The Little Merman
by BanannaSlapz517
Summary: President Snow decides that the best way to get rid of Peeta Mellark, victor of the 74th Hunger Games and catalyst of the rebellion, is to dump him with the humans, the obviously stupid and savage race that occupies everything above the surface. Oh, and just to make sure that he dies, takes away Peeta's biggest weapon: his voice.
1. Day 1

**Day 1**

_The Peacekeepers shoved me down to the floor, causing sand to spray everywhere. It rubbed uncomfortably against the chaffed areas around my wrists and my tail where the chains usually were. "Mr. Mellark."_

_ I glanced up. "President Snow," I replied icily. "A pleasure, as always."_

_ He stared me down for a few seconds, and then decided to let an emotion show on his face. A smirk. "Indeed. The public is getting anxious, waiting for the return of their esteemed victor."_

_ I snorted. Snow had been keeping up the illusion to the rest of Panem that I was residing in District 12. Back home, they thought I lived in the Capitol. I hadn't seen anything but this cavernous jail for months. _

_ "Don't worry. They will see you soon."_

_ My head snapped up, my eyes narrowing, and I tried to stop the hope of fresh water from flooding my heart too quickly. "They will?" I asked cautiously, my mind scrambling for explanations. It couldn't be time for the Victory Tour already, could it?_

_ Snow's eyes glinted with satisfaction at his own plan. "Yes. Today, in fact, you boarded a transport from District Twelve to the Capitol."_

_ It couldn't be that simple. I stayed silent. _

_ Snow continued, "Unfortunately, your transport was attacked by humans. You were severely injured, and kidnapped. Never seen or heard from again."_

_ My heart sank. This was it. "Since it seems my fate is already decided, I suppose I should thank you for keeping me alive this long." I raised my neck, exposing it to him. "I'll stop wasting your resources."_

_ President Snow actually chuckled. My blood ran cold. "Mr. Mellark, weren't you listening? You die after being tortured at the hands of human kidnappers." He leaned down towards me, his dirty white tail pushing cold currents into my face. "We'll have video footage."_

* * *

It must have been about two o'clock in the morning when I stumbled downstairs to see who the hell was accosting my door at this hour. I gazed blearily out the window to see Gale. Figured.

When I jerked open the door, he stumbled in, hauling something heavy over one shoulder. I jumped out of the way as Gale headed straight to my living room, dumping the body onto the couch.

"Gale, did you kill someone?"

"Shut up, Catnip," he bit back, "I was working and found him on the shore on the way home."

I glared. Gale, like the rest of the men in the Seam, was a miner for underground oil, and he regularly pulled 18-hour shifts so he could support his family. I admired him for it. I respected him more than anyone I knew – but not at two in the morning. "So you're dumping him here?"

Gale shrugged. "You have a couch. My mom would flip, and your mom's down in Washington for the week. Solution."

"I am not letting a random stranger sleep in my house," I flat-out refused.

"Katniss…." He whined, tugging on my sleeve. "He looks your age, and I couldn't just leave him there."

"He probably just passed out drunk or something," I said, stepping away. The light was low enough that in order to see anything more than a silhouette, I had to squint, and it was making my head hurt. "He deserves it."

"Catnip," Gale said. "He's not passed out."

I looked around, and jumped about a mile when I saw the boy in question. He'd propped himself up on his elbows and was staring at us. "Gale," I hissed sideways out of my mouth. "This. Is. Not. Okay."

Gale ignored me, walking over to the boy and kneeling next to him. The boy was only wearing a pair of canvas shorts, and he looked awful, bones sticking out and curly hair sticking everywhere. I couldn't tell what color it was in this low light. "He can't speak, and he can't walk very well," Gale said. "Maybe he was a passenger on a ship that hit his head and fell overboard. I don't know. If I was ever in the position, I'd want someone to help me."

"Since when are you noble?" I spat.

Gale glared at me. "Reminded me of Rory," he said, "After he was stung by that jellyfish."

And immediately I felt awful, because Rory was Gale's little brother, who was the same age as my little sister Prim. He'd managed to haul himself up to the dock, but it had been hours before any sailors had noticed him and gotten help.

So I sighed, "Fine. But you better be back-"

"I have work at noon," Gale blurted out.

I glared at him. This was typical Gale. "Fine. I'll deal with it."

Gale stood up and squeezed me in a tight hug. "Knew I could count on you, Catnip."

"Whatever," I groaned, pushing him off me.

Gale looked down at the boy, and told him, "Katniss will help you."

The boy nodded. Examining him closer, I could notice depressions under his eyes from tiredness. He reached up his hand as Gale reached down, and they clasped forearms in some sort of silent male ritual. Then they both withdrew, and without as much as a goodbye, Gale started to leave my house.

I stared after him, and then back down at my unexpected houseguest. "We'll talk in the morning," I said flatly, turning and stomping back up the stairs. "You can sleep here." And then I left him there, because I figured if he couldn't walk, he wasn't much of a threat, and I'd hold Gale responsible for any trouble.

Stupid Gale, trying to be a stupid rescue hero. Hopefully, when I woke up in the morning, it would all be a dream – I hate dealing with people.

* * *

No such luck.

I slept fitfully that night. When the sun started to peak above the horizon, I decided to just give up my tossing and turning and head downstairs. Normally, if I woke up early I would go down to the shore and fish, but that plan was quickly derailed when I passed by the living room and noticed the body sleeping there. Damn. Not a dream.

Now that I could actually see, I could examine the boy a bit more. The first thing that popped out at me was how skinny he was –skinny enough to starve to death. I knew the position well. It was the state in which I existed in the years between my father's death and my Uncle Cinna's graduation from school. I had to depend on fish to survive. Gale, my fishing partner, made life easier. Once my uncle had a job, he started sending us bits of money, too. As Mom was only home for the weekends, and my sister Prim and I didn't need much, I could make that bit of money stretch a long way.

I wondered how long it'd been since the boy had a decent meal.

His skin was pale, like he'd never seen the light of day. His hair was only slightly darker, falling in ashy blond clumps around his head. He had a long, thin scab above one eyebrow. He also had rings of scabs around his wrists and ankles.

Where did he come from?

As if sensing my gaze from his sleep, and perhaps he could, he frowned and raised an arm, groping out sideways once, twice. His lips fell open, shaping words I couldn't hear, and I suddenly remembered Gale telling me he couldn't speak.

I reached out and grabbed his hand in my own. He latched onto my hand and squeezed so tightly I thought my fingers may pop off. "Hey," I said aloud, and he twitched violently, almost falling off the couch.

Not good. "Shh," I crooned, trying to think about what I would do to comfort Prim when she had nightmares. So I opened my mouth and began to sing.

It worked. After a few verses, he calmed down enough to loosen his death grip on my head. I slid it off me, laid it on his chest, and stood up to go mix up some sort of breakfast in the kitchen.

With some leftover oats, I was able to make three decent-sized portions of hot cereal, with half a glass of goat's milk each on the side. When I went outside to check on Prim's goat, Lady, I was surprised to find my baby sister already out there.

"Prim," I called.

She glanced up. "Katniss!"

"You're up early." I frowned. "I didn't wake you, did I?"

"No," she said guiltily. I shot her a look. "Fine, yes," she admitted, "but it was a nice way to wake up. You should sing more. You're the best singer in the whole world."

"You're biased," I told her.

Prim rolled up the bag of feed and picked up the bucket with today's milk. I quickly stepped forward to take the bag from her and hold the door open as she stepped into the house. "I'm right," she quipped. "Oh! Who's this?"

I stopped dead at the sight of the boy, leaning dizzily against the edge of our kitchen table and looking like he was about to collapse any second. "Um," I articulated as I rushed forward to catch up, and help lower him down into the seat. He looked at me briefly and then turned towards the food. I nudged a spoon in his direction, but he just picked up his bowl and started gulping it down whole.

"Katniss?" Prim repeated.

I tore my staring eyes away from him and towards Prim. "Ah…" I fumbled. "This is…a friend of Gale's. He needed a place to stay, and…"

"Oh, you look terrible!" Prim exclaimed, rushing forwards to the boy, laying a hand on his forearm. He froze for a second, and then put the bowl he was licking clean down, a guilty expression forming. "No offense," she added. "I'm Prim! That's short for Primrose. But everyone calls me Prim."

He smiled at her. I was inwardly relieved he was playing nice. If he had given one mean look towards my baby sister, he was being thrown out, Gale or not. He opened his mouth, probably to introduce himself, but no sound came out. He frowned and touched his vocal cords with one hand.

"Oh, you lost your voice?" Prim asked. She set her milk bucket down on the table and headed towards the sink. "Katniss, is there any hot water left over from the porridge? We should make him tea. That should help. I bet the conditions in the mines are just awful."

She assumed her was from the mines. Maybe he was. "Um, no," I answered her, gradually sliding into one of the chairs next to the boy. I tipped my bowl towards him, offering the food, but he shook his head no.

Prim tutted. "Fine. This will just take longer." She put water in the kettle to boil and then slid down to the last chair, on the other side of him. "He'll need clothes," she noted, clinically examining his thin chest. "Maybe he can borrow something of Dad's before he gets his own-"

"No!" I interrupted sharply. She and the boy just looked at me, and I fought to keep down a blush. I was perfectly fine talking to just Prim. Who was this guy, and why did he have to come here and bother us. "No, that's…Dad's stuff." There's no way we're just loaning it out to strangers. I saw Prim shoot me a sour look, but I continued, "Besides, we don't even know your name."

Seeing both of our attentions shift to him, the boy smiled uneasily. He glanced at me, and then began writing something in the air with his finger.

"Oh, stupid! I'll just get paper!" Prim shouted. She ran over to the bookshelf and ripped out a blank page from the ends of one of the books, like we usually do when we need paper. He accepted the paper and pencil, wrote something short onto the page, and then pushed it back out towards us.

Prim and I craned our necks to look at it quizzically. As far as I could tell, it was a bunch of boxy shapes covered in slanted lines. "This isn't our alphabet," Prim said.

I frowned. "Can you understand us?" I asked.

He nodded.

"But we obviously don't write the same way," I mused, and then turned my head to him. "Where are you from?"

He hesitated, and then pointed in a direction.

Prim laughed. "You're from the bathroom?"

"I think he means northeast," I said, trying to summon up a map in my head. "Maybe…Newfoundland? It's hard to communicate with someplace so far away. Their alphabet might have evolved."

"Didn't there used to be more land and islands?" Prim inquired. "I heard people once could walk on foot to the North Pole through a place called Greenland."

"Flooded," I answered flatly, looking to the boy for confirmation, but he only shrugged.

My heart tweaked as a little look of disappointment on Prim's face, but she moved on quickly. "Well, we could try to guess your name!" she offered. "Is it…Nik? Jay? How about Owain? I always thought that was a cool name."

He shook his head at each of those, and I groaned. "Prim, that'll take forever. And it might not even work."

"Might as well try," she said.

I stood, gathering the three bowls of mostly-eaten breakfast, and taking them to the sink to wash. I saw the boy staring at me, so I turned around and snapped, "What?" brandishing my scrub brush like a weapon.

He shook his head, as if to reply _nothing, _but he was still staring. My eyes caught his, and for a second or two I forgot the rest of the world existed. "You have blue eyes," I breathed, not consciously aware letting to words escape my mouth.

"No way!" Prim yelled, startling me out of my trace. He looked away too, towards Prim, his eyes widening. "That's so cool!" Prim continued. "I didn't even know that was possible! I've only ever seen gray or brown! Have you ever seen blue eyes, Katniss?"

"No," I answered softly. I've never even heard of them.

* * *

A/N: I do not own _The Hunger Games. _


	2. Day 3

**Day 3**

Even though he couldn't tell us, I never stopped trying to figure out who the boy was.

Prim was delighted to have a new friend. I suppose she must get lonely (after all, we rarely had company other than the occasional Hawthorne), but she was going overboard. After breakfast, she spent the majority of the day trying to teach him how to bake. I mostly sat at the table with the recipe book and watched.

He was really jumpy, startling at every new tool Prim introduced. He nearly had a cow when she started a fire in the oven. How do you go through life without seeing an oven? I started speculating as to where he actually grew up. New Chicago? New Dakota? Somewhere with a lot of crime. Maybe he grew up on the streets.

He didn't have a single scar on his body – just those injuries on his wrists. That couldn't be right.

Maybe.

After two failed attempts at batter and a burned palm on the boy's part, (like he didn't know an oven was hot. Who was this guy?) They produced an irregularly lumpy but edible loaf of bread. He and Prim both looked incredibly pleased with themselves. The boy even stopped glancing at me every few seconds to see if I was still watching him. I don't think he liked me very much, but he was staying in my house and we both knew it.

I didn't start dinner until about 6:15 – and all I was doing was warning up some broth to dip our bread into – but the boy trudged back to the couch and fell asleep by the time it was finished. Prim ran upstairs to grab a blanket, and then giggled to me for the rest of the night.

The next day was very similar. I grudgingly gave him a pair of my Dad's old clothes to change into. We ate. We baked. Prim tried but didn't correctly guess his name. That afternoon, we went outside to the yard to introduce the boy to Lady. Then we lay down on the grass to cloud gaze. I think he was dozing the whole twenty minutes, but I didn't have the heart to tell Prim.

On the third day, I woke up early in the morning again. I was planning on meeting Gale after he got out of work. When I walked downstairs, the boy was thrashing against the blanket tangled in his legs.

I walked over and tried to grab his hand to steady him, but this only made him jump and almost fall off the couch entirely. I took the opportunity to catch him and just hold him steady. He latched onto me, buried his face in my neck, and started to sob. It was unnerving – every instinct told me to bolt like a deer, and I had to fight to stay still. I could feel him shaking, but I couldn't hear even his breath leaving his mouth.

After a minute or two, he pulled away, scrubbing his eyes with his fingertips. He seemed surprised when they came back wet. "It's okay," I blurted out, and he glanced up at me, startled. I hesitated. "They're just…tears."

_Tears,_ I think he mouthed back, wiping his hands on the couch. He looked back up at me shyly and gave a small smile, and mouthed something else. Maybe _thank you _or _I'm sorry. _

"It's fine," I answered, finally standing up. He pulled the blanket back and did the same. For the first time in days, he finally seamed steady on his feet, not as if he were going to fall over from hunger or exhaustion any second. "Come on," I said. "We'll grab something to eat on the way to meet Gale. Remember him?"

* * *

We met Gale on the dock as he was unloading off his oil-mining ship. He seemed exhausted, as usual, but his eyes perked up a bit when he saw us. The first thing out of his mouth was, "You kept him!"

I scowled. "No need to sound so shocked."

"It was Prim, wasn't it?" Gale assumed, turning to the boy and sticking out his right hand for a handshake. "Gale Hawthorne."

The boy stared at the hand for a few seconds, before glancing up at me, then Gale. Hesitantly, he stuck out his own hand and only seemed slightly taken aback when Gale moved it up and down a few seconds.

"As far as I can tell, we speak the same language but we don't use the same alphabet," I cut in. We started walking down the dock to the road on the edge of the shore, in the direction of the Hawthorne's. "So he can't tell us anything."

"Does _he _have a name?" Gale asked pointedly.

I shrugged.

Gale groaned. "Katniss…"

"Gaaaaaallle," I mimicked. Gale raised his eyebrows, and jerked his head in the direction of our guest. I scowled some more and looked down at my feet. "He and Prim like to bake," I mumbled. "So I just call him the Boy with the Bread."

Gale let out a hoot of laughter, but when I looked up, I met _his _eyes. He seemed frustrated, trying to mouth something at me, but I shook my head. "I'm sorry. I don't understand."

He seemed to sigh, but nodded in understanding. He pointed at himself, mouthing something, and then stuck out his hand to Gale.

Gale nodded. "Nice to meet you, too."

When their hands connected, the boy squeezed Gale's hand extra hard, stopping short on our walk home. They stared at each other for a few seconds, and then Gale said, "Don't mention it. I'm glad you're alive."

He relaxed, starting to walk again. He withdrew his hand from Gales' and instead waved it between Gale and myself. I wasn't sure what he was saying until he pointed from Gale's dark hair, to mine, then our eyes, and our skin. "Oh!" I exclaimed, proud of myself for understanding. "No, we're not related."

He made a little scooping motion next to his mouth, which was his and Prim's code for _eating, _and then pointed to Gale. I glanced up at Gale. "No, I don't think so."

"What?" Gayle asked.

"He was asking if you were going to eat lunch with us," I translated, looking to the boy for guidance. He smiled in approval.

Gale shrugged. "Actually, I'd rather just go home and sleep, if it's all the same to you." He gestured towards the fork in the road that led to his house.

"Yeah, fine," I answered. The boy nodded, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"See you tomorrow," Gale told us.

"Bye," I responded, giving a small wave. We continued walking down the main road while Gale turned west, more inland. I glanced at the boy, wondering if I should make conversation, but the look in his eyes stopped me. Raw, honest gratitude. Like he couldn't believe we were real.

I shivered once and let us walk back home in silence.

* * *

A/N: I do not own _The Hunger Games. _Thanks for all the reviews!


	3. Day 4

**Day 4**

I don't want to be an oil miner when I grow up.

"Pass the flour, Katniss?"

I shoved the flour from my end of the table towards where he and Prim where standing. "Here."

"Thanks! Here you go, Brian. Huh? No? Not Brian, then."

Only, if I'm not an oil miner, then I'll have to run a business, like Mrs. Hawthorne and her Laundromat. But even then, it takes both her and Gale's earnings to support the family, with only the extra fish Gale and I bring in sometimes to offer them any extra sorts of comforts.

"How's this look?"

Afternoons had quickly evolved from Prim teaching him to bake to the other way around. The boy had a natural talent for bread.

I barely glanced at the dough. "Fine."

But if I didn't become a miner or a businesswoman, I had no other options. Besides fishing illegally for the rest of my life. And I couldn't rely on the drunk old harbormaster to keep ignoring me forever.

I was interrupted from my lamenting by a baked good being shoved in my face. I recoiled slightly, glancing up to see the boy, shoving a roll in my face. He smiled. I glared at him for a few seconds, before taking a rebelliously large bite.

Oh, lord. It was one of the best things I'd ever tasted in my life.

I regretted taking so huge a mouthful – it took me an embarrassingly long time to chew and swallow, and he was watching me the entire time, that amused smile still on his face. Jerk.

"It's good," I told him, as soon as my mouth was empty. He didn't make any sort of immediate response, just stared at me for a little bit, so I spat, "What are you looking at?"

He shook his head, but the smile just grew wider on his face and I could tell by the way his eyes crinkled and his stomach shook he was laughing. I caught myself wondering what his laugh would sound like. Probably just as warm and beautiful as his baking.

He dropped the rest of the roll in front of me and wandered back to his place next to the counter. I think he and Prim might be moving on from bread to cookies.

He caught me staring and smiled at me before accepting the sugar from Prim. I scowled back, but he didn't seem to notice.

That was the fourth day the boy was here. Tomorrow was Saturday. Tomorrow, my mother would be coming home.

* * *

A/N: I do not own _The Hunger Games. _Sorry about the short chapter - they will be varying in length, in accordance with how much Katniss has to say. This is the shortest chapter in the entire story, though. It's shaping up to be around 20.


	4. Day 5

**Day 5**

My relationship with my mom hasn't been the same since my father's death. While I tried to forgive her, I'd never trust her completely again. She wasn't there when I was eleven years old and starving. It was only when I took out my father's boat by myself and almost drowned that she really started pretending she cared again.

I knew better. Whatever kind of pure emotions she had for her daughters died with her husband.

I'd been sleeping restlessly all night, so it wasn't too difficult to get up early that morning. I woke the boy again – he wasn't thrashing today, but he was frowning and his fists were clenched, and I just couldn't bear to see his face unhappy, even if it was only a bad dream. So I shook him from sleep.

"Hey," I whispered, waiting from his wild eyes to calm down. It took him a few seconds, but he finally recognized me and reoriented himself in the room. "Want to go out for a walk?"

For a millisecond I was terrified that he was going to ignore me and go back to sleep. Relief flooded threw me when he sat up and made the motion that represented fresh clothes. I'd finally budged and given him free range to my dad's old work clothes. Might as well be put to good use, right? It seemed like they were pretty close to the same size.

I waited for him to change and then meet me outside on the front porch. When he came out, shutting the door quietly behind him, he made a walking motion with his fingers, and then raised his hand to indicate a height taller than himself.

"Walking…" I started. "Oh, you mean Gale? No, we're not going to see him today. He won't be home until late tonight."

He dropped his hands back to his side and nodded slowly, obviously still wondering where we were going.

"I thought we'd just go…out. Walking." I think I have a superpower. I can make every single conversation I'll ever participate in awkward, without fail. Did this even count as a conversation, when only one person could talk?

The boy smiled at me, and gestured to the dirt path from my house to the main road. I wondered if his smiles could melt the snow we get each winter.

We fell into step next to each other. He was always waiting for me to pick which turns to take, but when I led us to the shore and just walked on the sand, parallel to the water, he looked content. No, more than that. He was content spending hours baking cookies with Prim. He looked…relaxed.

I wondered what he was thinking.

"My mom's coming home today," I broke the silence. The words were casual, but my heart was filled with dread.

He looked over to me quickly, eyes widening slightly in surprise. I realized he didn't know anything about my parents. He probably thought they were dead.

He'd be half-right.

"She works as a doctor," I said, keeping my eyes trained on a far point ahead of me – the dock we were approaching – and not on his face. "Far away."

I couldn't help it. I glanced over to him. He was biting his lip.

"Don't worry," I told him. "She won't have a problem with you." I glanced away again. "I won't let her."

He stopped suddenly. I could see it out of my peripheral vision. I turned. He was staring straight ahead at the dock. For a moment, I thought it was what I had said, but then he took off, a few steps at a fast walk, and then breaking into an unsteady run.

I followed slowly, timidly, wondering what was going on. I watched when he slowed down, stopping at the pier next to the dockside cottage. He grabbed another figure's shoulder, causing the other to turn around. When I squinted, I recognized Haymitch Abernathy, the drunken old harbormaster. Like most of the town, we had an understanding – he wouldn't turn in the illegal fishermen, and he wouldn't get turned in for being largely absent from his post.

I raised my eyebrows, slightly flabbergasted when they embraced. Haymitch rarely spoke to anyone, and the only thing he ever touched was a bottle of liquor. They broke apart quickly, but Haymitch kept a hand on the boy's shoulder. As I approached, I could hear the low, quick murmur of Haymitch's voice. The boy raised a hand to his throat and shook his head. Haymitch said something else, and the boy looked over at me.

I fought to urge to run away, out from under their gaze. I just kept walking until I'd caught up to them. "Hi," I said. "I'm Katniss."

Haymitch waved his hand dismissively. "I know who you are, sweetheart," he said impatiently. "What I'd like to know is how you and the boy know each other."

"He washed up on the beach one night," I told him softly, but I wasn't looking in Haymitch's direction anymore. The boy had captured me with his blue eyes, and it wasn't physically in my power to look away.

Haymitch looked to the two of us and sighed. "Figures," he muttered. "Katniss Everdeen, meet Peeta Mellark."

Peeta. Peeta Mellark. Like Peter, but…Peeta. Like the bread. My boy with the bread, Peeta Mellark. It sounded like the cry of an ocean bird as they soared over the shore, Mellark. Peeta Mellark. His name possessed the same rhythm as an ocean wave. Rise, fall. Peeta Mellark. Soothing, calming. Peeta Mellark. I was drowning in his eyes.

It was that point I realized I was in deep trouble.

* * *

The revelations came bewilderingly fast after that. Haymitch explained to me quickly that Peeta was his nephew, from New York. The ship on which he'd been traveling had capsized, and Haymitch had believed Peeta had died. Haymitch thanked me for taking care of him, and tried to repay me with money.

"No thanks," I told him, glancing over his shoulder at Peeta quickly. "It was my pleasure."

Haymitch didn't offer again. When I suggest that Peeta and I go back to collect his things, Haymitch asked, "What things?"

I didn't have an answer.

"We'll wash the clothes and send them back in a few days," he said gruffly. "Thanks for everything."

I nodded.

Haymitch watched me impatiently. "You can go home now, sweetheart."

"Oh." I internally shook myself awake again, realizing I had been dismissed. "I'm glad you found each other."

Haymitch nodded. "Better call his poor mama," he said, jerking a thumb in Peeta's direction. Peeta frowned at this. "She'll be worried sick."

I took a step away. "Alright," I said softly. My eyes found Peeta's again. "If you want to visit, you know where to find me."

To say Prim was disappointed when I got home was an understatement, but Mom (who'd arrived while I was gone) looked relieved, if anything. She almost marched down to Haymitch's herself, but I managed to talk her out of it.

"Peeta doesn't even look like Haymitch," Prim grumbled.

"They're both…kinda blond," I replied. She pouted and continued valiantly trying to put away all the top-shelf ingredients by standing on a chair. "Besides, they could be related by marriage. You should be glad he found his family."

"I guess," she admitted. "I just really liked him, you know? You'd never bake with me." At my frown, she continued hastily, "Well you would, but you don't like it."

"I'm sorry," I apologized.

She shrugged. "Not your fault. I just hope he's happy."

I watched as she finally slid the small tub of salt back into its place. "Me too, Little Duck," I said, catching her as she hopped off the chair. "Me too."

* * *

A/N: And the story progresses along decidedly faster than most of you thought it would. Yay...fun? Please review, I could really use your guys' thoughts on this.


	5. Day 7

**Day 7**

_Haymitch snatched the paper out from under my hands before I had time to react. He glared at the drawing for a long time, and then glared down at me and my little art station I'd set up on the floor. "Boy," he addressed me, "You are certifiably insane this time. Bat-shit crazy. You've given me a run for my money in the past, but this takes the cake."_

_ I glared up at him, trying to snatch my drawing of Katniss back, but he easily held it above my head. With an inaudible groan, I hauled myself to my feet. It was an uncomfortable feeling. _

_ "She's a human," Haymitch pointed out, as if I hadn't noticed. "You're a merman."_

_ I made a grand gesture at my own two legs, and then glared at his. _

_ "I know you haven't forgiven me yet," he said. _

_ I rolled my eyes before he could continue, stomping my way from my little corner to the couch in the center of the room, sitting down heavily. That was an understatement. Seeing my mentor with two legs was felt like getting stabbed in the back, especially when I thought he'd died two weeks after I'd won the games. At the time, I thought the Capitol had done it as a warning to me, an incentive to try to squash the rebellion I'd inadvertently caused. Two weeks later, when Panem was no closer to being under Snow's control, I saw District 12 destroyed before my eyes. _

_Apparently, he'd been just hiding out in 13 the whole time, which apparently exists. Also, humans were apparently not the vicious savages we'd all been raised to think. Apparently, Haymitch had spent half his time living as one. _

_ Apparently, I'm a fool. _

_ "Boy. Peeta."_

_ I glared up at Haymitch. _

_ He waved the drawing of Katniss in my face. "This," he emphasized, "Needs to stop."_

_ I snorted. Fat chance. I'd been a goner even since that first morning I'd seen her, when I was having a nightmare and she sang me back to sleep. I was convinced the human, Gale, had killed me the night before, and that she was an angel. _

_ I was half right. _

_ Haymitch tore my drawing in two. I forced myself not to flinch. "Get some sleep, boy," he ordered, his voice softer. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Can't even speak and giving me a damn headache. Go on. We've got to be back in 13 in the morning."_

_ Ah. Thirteen. The ancient district of magic, a weapon I thought only the Capitol controlled. They'd been working nonstop for the last two days now, trying to reverse the spell that would give me my voice and my tail back. _

_Nothing was working._

_I watched as Haymitch stumbled to the kitchen and pulled out a bottle. Quietly, I got up, gathered up the pieces of my drawing, and headed to my room. _

* * *

A/N: Reveiws are love.


	6. Day 9

**Day 9**

I woke up to a harsh shaking of my shoulder. I blinked twice, squinting in the darkness, and managed to make out a curly-haired silhouette.

I sat up quickly, his quick reaction being the only thing to stop us from colliding foreheads. "Peeta," I croaked, glancing at the mechanical clock on the wall. 11:30. I couldn't have been asleep for more than an hour.

He stood up. I self-consciously touched my sloppy braid and hoped he couldn't see too well in the dark either. "What are you doing here?"

Peeta opened his mouth – and then grimaced, remembering his problem. Instead, he just motioned for me to get out of bed. Then he paused, and mimed walking.

"Go for a walk?" I said. I glanced at the clock again. I didn't have anything important to do tomorrow, and besides, I certainly pulled him right out of his bed enough times. "Sure."

Like I'd done for him, he left me alone so I could get ready. I didn't see the need to change out of my white tank-top, so I left it on. I changed from my short sleeping shorts to a green pair of cut-off pants I often wore fishing with Gale. I debated grabbing my dad's old leather jacket, but I decided against it.

I met Peeta downstairs. He beamed at me, his expression so delighted that I had to smile back. "It's good to see you."

He pointed to himself and held up two fingers.

We began our walk. I was happy to let him lead this time, but he seemed surprised when I didn't guide him in directions. I raised my eyebrows and shrugged, a gesture he mimicked before setting out on the quickest path towards the beach.

I realized that if we wanted to communicate at all, I'd have to be the one directing the conversation. There was no Prim to rescue me this time. It was an uncomfortable feeling. "So…" I started. "How's life with Haymitch?"

Peeta wobbled his hand in front of him. _So-so. _I snorted in amusement in spite of myself. He noticed and raised an eyebrow. _What?_

"You're just normally so optimistic about everything," I mused. "Although, if Haymitch were my uncle…"

He quickly made a face. I laughed.

"It's nice to learn your name, though," I said, letting the laughter leave my face. He didn't respond, so I just blundered on, "I couldn't just keep calling you the boy with the bread forever-"

He jerked his hand in front of my face. I stopped suddenly, recoiling, until I realized her was holding a piece of paper out to me. I glanced over at him, but he was staring pointedly in the other direction, so I just slid it out of his grasp.

The first thing I noticed was that the paper was actually two. Maybe it'd been whole at one point, but the entire thing had been ripped easily down the middle. The only thing holding it together were four small knots of thread, evenly spaced throughout the page. I shifted the page to see what was on it, trying to get the moonlight to catch the pencil lead. When I saw, I gasped.

It was a picture of me.

I was too embarrassed to look at it, but I was too entranced to look away. It was definitely my braid, and I was sitting in a chair in a typical posture, one leg bent and my chin in my elbow, looking over the armrest and giving an amused smile to someone off the edge of the picture. My eyes flicked up to Peeta. He was staring determinately off over the ocean, eyes tracing patterns on the crests of the waves.

"Thanks," I whispered, because I didn't know what else to say.

He glanced at me for a moment, before looking away again.

I almost jumped when I felt something brush my hand. I looked down in time to see what I was feeling – Peeta's fingers closing around mine.

I jerked my hand backwards automatically, feeling the blood rushing to my cheeks. I decided long ago I was never going to fall in love, or marry, or have children, and this seemed alarmingly really far but too close to that direction. I decided that when I realized I didn't have a future outside of mining. I decided that when my father died and my mother abandoned us. I decided that when I realized that humanity was clinging to life in a dying world. 74 years ago was the last of many of the Great Wars. America stayed in power, but the cost was too great. The humans all killed each other. There were less than a million of us left.

If my species condemned to death, I didn't want to prolong the suffering.

This was the first thing I thought of whenever I made physical contact with a boy. Even if I wanted to enter a relationship, I couldn't. I wouldn't. Especially not with Peeta. He was too good for me.

He finally looked at me, eyes dejected and searching, but I refused to say anything. Peeta opened his mouth, but became frustrated when nothing came out. He looked at me, cheeks flushed, and then glared down at the sand.

I shoved the drawing back at him and stuck both my hands in my pockets. After five minutes, we were back at my house.

I stood there for a few seconds, just taking him in. I didn't want him to leave, but I felt like the choice had just been made. I could already feel the boy with the bread slipping away from me.

Damn him.

We gave each other strained smiles. Then he turned around, folding up his piece of paper, and left. I wondered what would have happened if he could talk. I wondered what Peeta Mellark would possibly have to say.

I bet he was a wonderful speaker.

* * *

A/N: Please review! Is this typical Katniss behavior? The story really picks up in the next chapter; hold on tight, and bring your diving goggles...


	7. Day 10

**Day 10**

I should have just kept my mouth shut. It would have been really easy to. At breakfast the next morning, when Prim worried, "I hope Peeta's okay. We haven't seen him in days," I should have just kept my mouth shut, and that would have been the end of it.

Unfortunately, my first instinct was and always will be to protect Prim from having to worry about anything, so without thinking I replied, "I just saw him yesterday. He's fine."

A wide smile cracked across her face. "So _that's _what you were doing out?"

Crap. "You were supposed to be sleeping!" I accused.

"You've been sneaking out at night to go see _Peeta?"_

_ "_Prim," I growled warningly.

She just laughed. "Katniss and Peeta, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-"

"Shut up," I hissed, trying to hide my blush, with limited success.

"You lovehim."

"Do not."

"You _love _him."

"Primrose Everdeen," I snapped. "Act your age. You're thirteen, not six."

"Act your age, Katniss," she demanded. "Aren't seventeen year olds supposed to try dating?"

My mind's eye wandered vaguely to an image of Peeta and I, going out on a date. We'd go out to the ocean, and he'd probably trip and fall into the water while I was teaching him how to fish. I forced myself away from this daydream suddenly. "Not me," I answered Prim resolutely.

She stared at me incredulously. "Peeta likes you," she said. "A lot."

"Peeta doesn't know me," I replied briskly, breaking eye contact with her in favor of staring down at my oatmeal.

"He lived with us for a week."

"So he has a crush," I brushed off. "He'll get over it."

"Katniss-"

"I'm not discussing this anymore," I said, standing up from the kitchen table. I strode to the sink, dumping out the remains of my oatmeal and then rinsing out the bowl. "Peeta Mellark is not my problem."

"I think, Katniss-"

"I said no, Prim," I ordered, still not looking at her.

"I just want you to be happy!" she burst out. The intensity of it shocked me, and I froze in my actions. "And you're never happy! When Peeta was here, it was the first time I've heard you laugh in years!"

"That's not true," I whispered, but my mind was secretly racing, trying to figure out if it was. I titled the bowl I was just watching at an angle so I could see the curved, upside-down reflection of Prim behind me.

She was putting her head in her hands. "I just want you to be happy," she mumbled, and I could hear tears in her voice. "Mom and Dad were happy."

"Look where it got Mom and Dad," I replied emotionlessly.

She didn't reply, just stared at the table a little more.

It was simple logic. If Peeta was around, Prim was happy. If I asked Peeta, he would come around. So if I asked Peeta to come around, Prim would be happy. That's all I had to do.

If I asked Peeta to come around, he would, and he'd be all sweet and draw pictures of me and bake cookies for Prim and still have his nightmares but would never, ever give up.

If Peeta was around, I would have to feel. My wants, or Prim's. Me, or Prim?

Prim was the most precious thing in the world. I turned around. "We just met him," I reiterated, as if I could change her mind.

Prim glanced up at me. "I think you're just angry because as soon as you let him in, he moved away."

"Little Duck, that's ridiculous. He's ten minutes down the shore."

"You are pretty ridiculous," she agreed, the hint of a smile quirking her face. She glanced up at me. "Do you know when he's leaving back for New York? Can you invite him round before then?"

I hadn't even thought of that – him going back, leaving again. "I don't know," I admitted, and the thought was strangely troubling.

Prim gave me her best puppy dog eyes. "Can you go find out?" she begged, giving me a not-so-subtle push towards the doorway.

"You could," I argued feebly.

"But I want you to!" she exclaimed. "Please?"

I bit my tongue, because I wasn't sure how to tell her that the thought of being around Peeta made me a whole different type of scared that I'd never experienced before. But in the end, it was no contest. I'd do anything to get rid of her misery. She stared at me expectantly, and I finally admitted, "Fine."

"Yay!" she cheered, perking up quickly, giving me another push. I stared at her incredulously, wondering how much I've just been manipulated. "Bye! Have fun! And take your time, there's no hurry!"

"Prim!"

"What? There's not!" she exclaimed cheekily. "Good_bye!"_

I sighed and reluctantly turned towards the door.

* * *

Even after dragging my feet as slowly through the sand as I could bear, it still only took me half an hour to get to Haymitch's place. I figured I might as well suck it up and get everything over with, so I just marched up and knocked on the door.

It took a few seconds for an answer. When Haymitch did open the door, he looked awful sloppy, like he'd just thrown on his clothes. Once he recognized me, he glared at me. "What are you doing here, girl?"

I frowned. "I'm here to see Peeta."

"We were just headed out," he retorted.

I glared back at him, but there wasn't really much I could do until Peeta came up behind him, pulling a shirt over his own head. He beamed at me from behind Haymitch's back and brushed past his uncle, and I wondered what I could have possibly done to deserve such a bright reaction. I was a jerk – all the time.

Haymitch seemed to realize to slowly what was going on to block him. "Damn it, Peeta. We have to go," he said, reaching for his nephew.

Peeta sidestepped out of his reach and pointedly grabbed my hand, squeezing it hard enough to not give me the option of pulling away this time. He raised our intertwined fingers at his uncle and let out his own glare, a look up until this time I hadn't known he possessed.

Haymitch tried to regain some dignity by crossing his arms over his chest. "Get it together, Mellark," he spat, "You know this is a bad idea, and I think your _situation_ is unpleasant enough without dragging in more variables."

In response, Peeta turned around and kissed me. It was nothing much, just the hard press of his lips against mine, and I idly thought that it just figures that my first kiss would be from a boy trying to prove a point to his uncle.

Peeta pulled away slightly, no more than an inch or two, and while I opened my eyes, his stayed closed. "You're not a variable," he muttered.

I blinked.

His eyes flew open, and a hand rose to his throat. "I spoke," he muttered, and when he felt the vibrations with his hand, he smiled so hard I thought it was split his face in half. "I can talk!"

Before I could react, he picked me up by the waist and spun me in a circle. He placed me down very gently, and very close to him again and whispered, "I love you," and just looked at me with those goddamn baby-blue eyes.

"You can talk?" I whispered back, astonished.

Behind us, Haymitch groaned. "Shit."

* * *

Haymitch didn't let us bask in the glow of the revelation very long. He pulled us inside the house immediately, which was even sloppier than I expected, and that was saying something. The whole place smelled like wine and crayons.

Peeta and I were still holding hands. I glanced down at them discreetly, wondering if I should be having a stronger emotional reaction than I was.

"Why?" Haymitch demanded shortly.

I wasn't quite sure what he was asking, but Peeta answered anyway. "She's _good, _Haymitch," he said, squeezing my hands slightly. "I didn't really know if anything could be good anymore, but she is."

Haymitch squinted at me. "She's as cuddly as shark."

"She's protective," Peeta defended, pausing, "And…she's a survivor." I wondered why he sounded a bit pained to admit this, but he quickly added, "And that's what I need. I thought I was dying – no, I was dying, and her _voice-"_

"Stop," Haymitch commanded, raised a palm to block Peeta's speech. I busy analyzing Peeta's voice as well as every single word he'd just said, so I was a little surprised when Haymitch turned to me. "And you?"

I blinked in surprise and considered the question. "He's just…Peeta," I answered. "I don't see what your problem is." I turned towards the boy in question. "Did you just get your voice back?"

Peeta was staring at me. "Yeah," he answered, a little smile playing on his lips. "Whatever it was…you solved it."

Haymitch cleared his throat loudly. "Alright," he said. He looked at Peeta. "You've got a case of Florence Nightingale syndrome, and you," he rounded on me, "are definitely faking. Maybe slightly infatuated too, but that's pretty common. It's called the Peeta Mellark effect. Mostly faking. So you can go home now, sweetheart."

Peeta and I glanced at each other, and his grip on my hand tightened slightly more. "Haymitch, you can't just ignore-" he began.

"Shut up," Haymitch interrupted, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Goddamn, Mellark. You couldn't have just left everything alone. The last thing I wanted was to drag someone else into this."

I jerked my hand away from Peeta's suddenly. He looked at me, a little surprised. "What's going on here?" I asked.

Peeta spoke gently. "Katniss-"

"You know what this means?" Haymitch interrupted, addressing Peeta like I wasn't even there. "There's only one kind of kiss that breaks spells."

"Excuse me!" I demanded.

Peeta frowned at Haymitch. Damn it, now he was doing it too. "What do you mean?"

"True love's kiss, boy!" he gestured wildly at me. "We can't let her go now!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I said.

"You or District 13 are not doing anything to Katniss," Peeta stated, stepping protectively in front of me.

"Can you two stop with this joke, or whatever it is?" I asked. They didn't even react, just kept their little stare-down with each other. "Alright, one of you better tell me what the HELL is going on, right now."

Haymitch glanced sideways at me, then down at his wristwatch. "At least I got a pair of fighters this year," he grumbled. "They're expecting us now."

Peeta stepped forward. "Haymitch, don't-"

Haymitch snapped his fingers.

There was a bunch of bubbles, and I was suddenly weightless.

The bubbles mostly popped or floated away as I looked around, my eyes stinging. We were definitely underwater. Peeta was next to me, his hair floating around haphazardly, and he was telling me something I had a hard time focusing on. Maybe he was telling me to run? I gave up and turned my head the other direction.

Haymitch was there, surrounded by little things of fabric. As I watched, he peeled off his shirt and let it go, not caring as it spiraled lazily to the floor. His shorts were already gone – maybe the fabric in the water? I glanced down just to double check. Yup. In place of legs, Haymitch had a brownish-black, 6-foot-long fish tail. It wasn't even a pretty color. It was like really dirty hay, or a Lady's poop.

Just in case this was a dream, because I was feeling a little light-headed and stiff, I checked Peeta again. He still had legs. He was still shouting at me, too.

I glanced down at myself, feeling joints in my neck protest. Legs.

I stared back at Haymitch. Tail.

"_Kanih!" _Peeta had grabbed my face, forcing me to look at him. _"Ay om'ing!"_

The feeling of light-headedness was getting stronger, so I wasn't about to waste whatever air I had left to inform Peeta that we were drowning.

Peeta's attention diverted from me to something slightly behind me, and he spoke more nonsense words. Slowly, I turned, following his gaze. There were more mermen there. Two of them were pale, with grayish tails, a little like Haymitch. One of them could have been straight from a cartoon, though. Bright green tale, copper-red hair a few inches long, just long enough to swirl around his head, mimicking his movements.

I suppose there were worse hallucinations to suffer right before death.

My vision went first, shortly followed by hearing. My last sensations were the solid grip of Peeta's hands, one on my cheek and the other interlacing his fingers with mine.

There were a lot worse ways to die.


	8. Day 12

**Day 12**

_"She should be awake by now," I murmured, using my grip along the windowsill to keep me from drifting away. _

_ "You know they kept her under for a little longer to help her body adjust," Finnick said next to me. "They say first one's the hardest. Course, I wouldn't know…" He made a minute adjustment with the tip of his tail, one that pushed me a couple inches to the side. _

_ "Careful, would you?" I snapped, not really thinking about it, just trying to keep myself upright. For the first time in my life, the water felt suffocating. I constantly had to fight external waves tipping me every direction possible, as well as the irrational waves of jealously that everyone else had a tail and I...didn't. __Even the best magicians still couldn't do anything to my legs or the rest of my body, which remained stubbornly human. The problem was that humans are pretty awful at swimming; a toddler could outrun me. _

_ I didn't ask why the true love's kiss only half-worked. It was bad enough figuring it out on my own; I didn't need verbal confirmation. _

_ Finnick reached out to grab my arm. "Sorry, didn't think. Here, if you let me just lead you around-"_

_ "I'm not two years old!"_

_ "Peet, I'm just trying to help!" he shouted. _

_ I sighed, turning away, back to staring at Katniss through the window. "I know," I told him. "I'm sorry. It's just frustrating."_

_ Finnick clapped me on the back, which almost sent me reeling forward, and I gritted my teeth to bite down another splash of annoyance. "I bet it is," he said. "Couldn't even imagine." He glanced at Katniss, who I insisted keep her human body too, even though magic apparently worked on her. I knew she would want to be awake to pick out how much of her lower body she was willing to change. "She must be really something."_

_"She is," I agreed. Finnick's hand was still on my back, keeping me in place. I gave up and decided to ignore it. _

_ He smiled toothily at me. "Then I'm happy for ya. There's nothing quite like it, is there?"_

_ I smiled back. "She's my Annie," I said. _

_ "Don't let her go."_

_ "I'm not planning on it," I answered. _

_ We fell back in silence, staring at Katniss some more. There wasn't any change. I suddenly turned to Finnick and voiced the question that's been haunting me for the last two days. "Are you assigned to follow me everywhere, or are you honestly just scared to leave me alone?"_

_ Finnick looked hurt. "Peeta. Your home district gets destroyed and you literally disappear from the waters. If you were still alive, you'd be in Snow's little lair, probably getting tortured out of your mind. When you do reappear, you look like hell, you're a human, and you've lost your voice. Suddenly you're stable enough to keep underwater and you expect me not to be worried?"_

_ I crossed my arms. "That wasn't an answer."_

_ Finnick pulled away from me, making me struggle to retain position. "I didn't think you'd win, you know."_

_ "What?"_

_ "Your games," he stated flatly. He looked my human body up and down once more, getting stuck on my feet, like everyone did. _

_ "I didn't think I'd win either," I told him, "But thanks for the input."_

_ "I just – I'm glad you're alive, okay? I know we didn't talk much before you were hijacked-"_

_ "You gave the best advice you could," I interrupted. "Snow just had to get rid of me. There wasn't anything else you could do. So if this is just some guilt thing-"_

_ "Look, all I'm saying is that you don't have to be Peeta the Protector around me," Finnick said. He stared at my crossed arms, fascinated. It wasn't a natural gesture for mermen, with the elbow-fins and all. "I'm here for you now," he continued._

_ I stared at Katniss determinedly. "Please don't call me that," I whispered. _

"_Hm?"_

"_Peeta the Protector. I know it kind of backfired on the Capitol, how Peeta the Protector's watching over Panem, but they originally called me that because I was the biggest of a bunch of teeny kids that had never done anyone any harm, and I couldn't protect any of them. They all died. I'm only victor because I couldn't protect anybody. I guess…the irony was just lost on everyone." I looked at sleeping Katniss, and I saw red-haired Jacky, mouth blue with poison, or Bobby with a broken neck or Rue with a spear in her chest, all laying just as still. _

_There was another current of water, but also a hand on my shoulder to steady me. "I'm sorry," he offered, something like understanding in his eyes. _

_I gazed briefly at him. "You were The Finnick Odair," I considered. _

_He made eye contact. "Sometimes I hated myself and my name too," he confided. "But it gets better." He looked at Katniss. "Trust me."_

"_You're a lot more serious than I thought you'd be."_

_Finnick smirked down at me. "And you're shorter."_

_I let out a laugh. I was never the tallest guy around, and my legs lost a solid foot or two shorter compared to my tail. "Sorry."_

"_No worries," he offered, glancing from me to Katniss again. "I think I'll just take a quick break to go…knot some rope. Or something. Nets." He raised an eyebrow at me. "If they ask, I never left, right?"_

_I smirked back. "Oh, yeah. Right," I paused. "Thanks, Finnick."_

"_No worries," he repeated. He gave me another smile and was gone with two flicks of his tail. He always was a powerfully strong swimmer – a large reason why he won his own games. _

_I looked around to see if anyone else was coming, and then let myself into Katniss's room. I wanted to be there when she woke up. If anything, at least I knew how it felt to wake up in an entirely different world. _

* * *

I kind of thought I was dreaming, because the world had that weightless, unreal, blurry quality dreams had, you know? And when I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was this merman with a dark grey tail next to me. I mean a real _merman. _He wasn't wearing a shirt, not that I'm sure one would fit over the fins he had growing out of his shoulder blades, and his elbows, and even his ears were elongated and ended up looking more like a fish fin's than a person's. He had short-cropped hair the same color as his tail and he was wearing glasses, staring at me, and was holding this little cube in his hand that contrasted with the webbing in between his fingers. And his body wasn't just some sudden transformation from person to fish. I could make out these really clear scales starting around his belly button that gradually gained color until they were a solid grey about his hips. And I looked down and the fin at the end looked more like a whale's than anything.

And than I looked to my other side, and there was Peeta sitting on something sort of chair-like, dressed from neck-to-toe in a black wetsuit with plastic flippers attached to his feet, but other than that completely normal and completely human. If it wasn't for his hair floating around, I wouldn't be able to tell we were underwater.

When he noticed I was awake, he grinned at me and said, "Hi, Katniss."

And the first thing I said was, "You can talk," like that was the weirdest thing about this whole situation.

His smile widened a little. "I can," he agreed. His voice was different from how I imagined it. Deeper, maybe.

"Thanks to you," the merman on my other side interjected.

I turned my head. "Who are you?"

Thankfully, he answered my question. "My name is Dr. Aurelius," he said, "I'm in charge of taking care of you."

"You're a merman," I stated.

He nodded thoughtfully. "Yes."

I turned towards Peeta. "You're not a merman."

Peeta looked down at his legs, a rueful expression drifting over his face. "Well, not right now, at least."

"You were?"

He nodded.

I frowned down at his legs too. "Why do you have legs?"

Peeta grimaced. "Spell," he answered tersely.

"A magic spell?"

"Magic spell," he affirmed.

I looked from him to my merman doctor. "Am I dreaming?"

Dr. Aurelius shook his head, and remained impressively emotionless. "No, Miss Everdeen. It's a spell that's keeping you breathing right now."

Well. That was nice to know. I glanced down at myself for the first time, noting that I was dressed identically to Peeta, minus the flippers. I was in a bed that reminded me slightly of a crib, in that the edge were curved slightly up over the mattress, just an extra safeguard to keep me from floating away. I scooted myself up into a sitting position. "Are you sure?"

"Katniss," Peeta said, pushing himself off his rock-chair and grabbing my hand. I didn't stop him, noting idly that they also must have done something to my ears, because Peeta's voice carried just fine. "I know this is…" he searched for a word, "…strange, and you're not going to believe anything for a little while. But you can trust us. We're not going to hurt you."

I searched his face, but I couldn't detect any evidence that he was lying. "Who are you?" I asked softly. "You're not Peeta Mellark from New York."

His mouth tightened. "Peeta Mellark," he said stiffly, "District 12." He gave me a hard look. "The ocean."

"Where are we now?" I inquired.

"District 13." He squeezed my hand.

"And you're under a spell that's keeping you human."

"Yes," he answered.

"The same spell that made you lose your voice."

"Yes." His voice was noticeably softer.

"We kissed, and you got your voice back."

Peeta gave me a halfhearted smile. "You choose that to remember?"

My lips twitched. "Contrary to popular belief, I'm not stupid-"

"Mr. Mellark?" a cold, female voice intruded.

We both looked up. In the doorway I hadn't noticed before, probably due to the more interesting merman in the way, were several more merpeople. There was Haymitch again, and an apologetic-looking redhead only slightly older than us, with a bright green tale. The speaker was a woman with cold eyes and a metallic gray tail reminiscent of a shark's. Thankfully, she had strict brown wrapping around her chest; I don't know what I would have done if the women also went shirtless, or worse, something like seashell bras.

Peeta straightened. "President Coin."

The most remarkable thing about this woman, however, was her hair. She had a chin-length bob, that didn't move. I wondered what kind of magic or hair-care products it took to accomplish that. Her gaze flicked from Peeta to me and then to the doctor. "If you'll excuse us," she said icily. "Mr. Mellark has appointments to keep."

Peeta squeezed my hand and suddenly let it go. "I guess I do," he said out loud, addressing the whole room. He looked down at me. "I'll be back later."

I glanced at the woman and nodded, wondering if merpeople were always this brisk.

"Don't do anything without her consent," he ordered the doctor, kicking over to group. He looked small compared to them – I'd guess tails made up a majority of their body mass. Haymitch snaked out a hand to grab Peeta's arm as soon as he got them, probably to better tow him along, I guess, because as soon as Peeta had reached they were out of there – amazing swimmers.

"Wow," I said out loud, still feeling dazed, and a little lost now that Peeta's warmth wasn't here to guide me.

"Miss Everdeen?" I turned to the doctor. To his credit, he looked slightly regretful. "I feel that there is something you should know about Peeta, something…it seems he'd rather not share himself."

I frowned. "What else could there be? No offense, but you're all mermaids. There can't exactly be a much bigger bomb than that."

Dr. Aurelius sighed. "If you don't know, Peeta Mellark was the victor of the 74th annual Hunger Games." He looked at me expectantly for a reaction.

I sort of squinted my eyes at him. "The Hunger what?"

* * *

A/N: I do not own _The Hunger Games. _I know this chapter revealed a lot pretty fast, so feel free to ask questions!


	9. Day 13

**Day 13**

To say I was "on edge" was a bit of an understatement.

Because as Dr. Aurelius kept talking, I kept realizing that this wasn't a dream.

It had to be a dream. There's no way I could equate Peeta Mellark to the killer of twenty-three children.

It wasn't a dream. Oh, my god, he'd been in the same house as _Prim-_

He was a victim, too!

Oh my god, _Prim!_ I'd forgotten about Prim!

It took the doctor and I a solid two hours to talk through the merpeople's crazy government with their crazy killing pageants. But then I remembered the wars that wracked my own race, and I wondered what if they bad guys had won, what if America had fallen and what if that was me? Or _Prim?_

Apparently, Peeta had done something along the lines of writing Prim a note, but I knew that wouldn't be good enough for her or my mother or Gale. So I informed the doctor that I had to get out of there now.

The doctor then informed me of my status as Peeta's true love. That was another doozy. I tried to convince him that he was wrong, that there had to be another spell-breaking kiss besides a "true love's kiss," whatever that even means, but then he just implied that I was the reason Peeta was still a human. And I spat back that if they were waiting on me to magically fall in love with a boy I'd just met, they'd be waiting the rest of their lives. And Dr. Aurelius just sort of sighed and glared at me in a way that let me know he thought Peeta was worth a thousand of me, and said That's Too Bad.

Peeta is an emotionally unstable boy that yes, has had a lot of bad things happen to him, but does not have the right to go _claiming _whatever he wants. All I did was be a regular Samaritan. When Peeta was at my house, he was free to leave whenever he liked. Do I get the same hospitality? _No. _I get insane anti-government-government-lockdown.

And really, what's so bad about being human anyways? I get that it's kind of a rarity, but people need to stop staring at me when they walk down the halls. If they don't like it, fine, I can take Peeta and leave. Though I'm not sure he'd want to. As far as I can tell, people here worship the ground he walks on. Water he swims through. Whatever.

He also hasn't come back since he got called away yesterday by that weird President lady. Who kidnaps their supposed true love and then abandons them?

Whatever.

Since they wouldn't let me leave, I decided to sneak out.

It was around three in the morning, I think. They had time-telling devices here, but it was in that alphabet I couldn't read, so I was approximating. There was surprisingly little security, but then again, I'm not sure these people have ever run into internal problems before. They're probably too worried about the rebellion, which they should be.

I was starting to think I should have let myself out earlier, because this place was fucking _huge. _And I wasn't the best swimmer. Not that I was bad, by any means, but it's one thing to swim on the surface and another to swim underwater, and I haven't had that much practice at either. Also, I didn't really know where I was going, so I was just kind of wandering around this giant sea-cave at three in the morning.

If they ask, I'll claim I was just restless.

"Katniss?"

_Fuck. _Not fair. It was way too soon. I plastered a smile on my face and turned around, making out human legs. "Oh – Peeta!" Not fucking fair.

He made a few more strokes towards me. He still swam like a mermaid – legs together, shoulders bobbing, fingers spread – like he still had a tail and fins and webbing on his hands. "Katniss, you can't lie. You don't have to smile at me."

I let the fake grin drop. "Sorry. I just wasn't expecting you out here."

"Couldn't sleep."

"Same here," I lied. He didn't call me on it. I decided to go ahead solidifying my cover story. "I figured I'd just wander around, but I think I'm lost. This place is too big."

A smile quirked on his lips. "Your buildings are so small."

"We actually have to build them, you know," I replied, not really premeditating my words. "Don't have magic to just make everything appear."

I expected him to get defensive, but he surprised me. It seems like that's all he ever does. "You're right," he agreed. "Not that I've ever really seen it until…" he trailed off. "…recently. Speaking of magic, why didn't you agree to a tail, while you were here?"

I crossed my arms over my chest, which in hindsight wasn't the best decision, because it was a lot harder to keep myself steady in the water. "Dr. Aurelius didn't even ask," I said.

Peeta seemed surprised. He raised his eyebrows. "He didn't?"

"No," I said, blasé. "We were pretty busy discussing other things."

"Other things," he echoed, the question in his eyes.

"Yeah," I said, pausing a moment too long, just to let him squirm. "Were you ever going to tell me? _Victor _Peeta?"

He closed his eyes and bit his lip. "Yes," he answered eventually.

"Twenty-three kids," I said. "That's a lot."

I was pushed back suddenly by a current of water. Peeta had flipped himself away from me suddenly, and from the set of his shoulders I could tell he was angry. "Shut up."

"That's a lot to leave out."

"Shut up! You're just a _human!_ You wouldn't know _ANYTHING!" _he was shouting now. He stopped, and swallowed, trying to control himself, but his voice came out wobbly. "I only just got my voice back. What was I supposed to do, sign you the message?"

"Might have been nice," I sneered.

"You're disgust-" he started, and then trailed off. "I'm…Katniss?"

I frowned, not sure what he was asking.

He continued in a strained voice. I didn't like it. "Marvel and Glimmer were from District 1. He specialized in spears and traps. She was an all-around career. Cato and Clove where from District 2. Cato was brutal. He preferred a sword. Clove had throwing knives. Mitch and Klockia were from District 3. When the careers realized our alliance, they grabbed Mitch and forces him into finishing reactivating the bombs. Klockia helped us avoid them. Ethan and Shelly were from District 4. He had curly hair. She was probably the least deadly of the careers-"

"Peeta, stop," I whispered.

If anything, he gained strength. "Chris and Foxface were from District 5. Chris died in the bloodbath. Foxface's real name is Jacky; I didn't know until afterwards, because she never spoke to us. She was too clever for that. Ash and Mary where from District 6. Ash was wounded in the bloodbath and died later that night from lack of blood. Mary was 13. She and Rue had a zipline system. Sam and Leifa were from District 7. He died in the bloodbath. I don't know what happened to her. Sciss and Millie were from District 8. He made a net and got really good at fishing. That fed us for days. Millie-"

He stopped suddenly.

I took the opportunity to jump in. "Peeta, don't. I get the point-"

"Millie got her neck snapped by Cato," Peeta continued, not looking at me. "He was threatening to eat her, but Rue and Klockia threw these noxious stinkbombs, so he cleared out before he got the chance. I carried her away and-" his voice caught again. "Her right arm was paralyzed. Bobby and…and the girl, I don't remember her name, from District 9. He, um, he had black hair and didn't trust us, and got captured by the careers one night. She died in the bloodbath. Jerome and Dakota where from District 10. They knew a lot about plants, surprisingly."

"Peeta-"

"I'm almost done!" he snapped, and began to rush. "Thresh and Rue were from District 11. He popped in and out in our group. He came in fourth in the games. If he-" he shook his head. "Rue was only 12. She was so small. She lived in trees most of the games. District 12, that was me and…Maizy…"

He turned back to me. "That's twenty-three people. And me."

At this point, what I wanted most was for the ground to come up and swallow me whole. "Peeta, I get it. I'm awful."

"No, that's not the point," he said. "That was twenty-three _people. _It was the longest Games on record. The Capitol's pissed."

"Screw them," I replied. Peeta almost smiled.

"Can I kiss you?" he asked.

I blinked in surprise. "But Peeta. I'm awful."

"No worse than me," he murmured, coming closer to me. "Twenty-three _people. _You should run."

"Like I'd ever. Why do you possibly – mmph."

It was another hard, closed-lipped kiss. The intensity of it took my breath away. When he stopped, he rested his forehead against mine, eyes closed. We stayed that way for several minutes.

He broke the silence first. "I'm glad you'll never have to go through that."

"I'm angry you did," I whispered back.

"Nothing you can do about it now."

I raised my arms and embraced him tightly.

"You didn't know," he muttered. "You and your small little world up there. You just didn't know." I didn't know if he was trying to convince himself or me.

I knew I was horrible and wouldn't deserve someone like him if I lived a thousand lifetimes. So I said nothing.

"Come on," he murmured, pulling away. "It's late. You're tired. Let's get you back to your room."

He grabbed my hand and began leading me in the direction I'd came. I could tell it was slowing both of us down, but I kept them intertwined. I wondered what the mermaid equivalent of holding hands was. They obviously couldn't with all the webbing.

We were silent for the rest of the swim. I was too afraid to say anything, and he was tired of speaking.

After about ten minutes, we arrived back at my room. Peeta stopped in the doorway and tried to disengage our hands, but I seized his. "You don't have to go," I said quietly.

He might have blinked. "What?"

I could feel my cheeks burning. "Let me make it up to you. Stay with me?"

Peeta leaned in closer. "I told you. I have a hard time sleeping."

"It can't hurt to just lie here," I argued.

He hesitated. "Okay."

I practically pulled him into the bed. After all, I'd be running away tomorrow night. I tried to keep my heart from pounding too loudly as we lay there, side-by-side.

"I'm sorry I blew up at you," he whispered.

Impulsively, I flipped over, curling up into his side and letting my head rest on his shoulder. He seemed surprised, but moved his arm up and around me to allow access before letting it rest precariously on my waist. "I deserved it," I told him.

"This is weird," he said.

"Hm?"

"This." I felt him shrug. "Merpeople don't sleep so close. Crushes the gills."

I gaped up at him. "You have _gills?"_

"Yeah," he answered. "On the neck." His opposite hand reached up to touch a spot below my ear. I closed my eyes, not sure how I felt about being positively _cradled_ like this. His hand retracted suddenly. "Goodnight, Katniss."

"Night," I said back.

* * *

I don't think either of us slept very well. I know I only ever dozed. It seemed like just as I was about to tumble into a deeper sleep, Peeta twitched and jerked me awake. I don't blame him. He did warn me he didn't sleep well, and it wasn't exactly his fault he was having nightmares.

Still. I wished more than anything that I could wipe the frown from his lips.

The incident happened at a more decent hour of the morning, six or seven or so, and this time Peeta jumped so hard I might have flown out of the bed if it weren't for his death grip on my shoulder. "Katniss," he hissed, "_Katniss!_ Wake up!"

I winced, squeezing my eyes shut hard before opening them. "What?"

"I've got a _problem."_

I rolled over onto my other side to face him. "What?" I spat again, noticing the problem at roughly the same time he gestured to it. I closed my eyes quickly. Peeta's boy problems were not what I had in mind.

"Katniss, it's _broken."_

"It's not broken, Peeta," I hissed.

"Yeah, it is! Open your eyes, look. It's that thing you use for waste disposal-"

"Waste disposal?" I echoed.

Peeta's voice was getting increasingly desperate. "I don't know what it's called!"

My eyes flew open, but I took special care to keep them on his upper half. "It's called a penis, Peeta! And that's an erection. It's no big deal. It just means you're sexually aroused."

Peeta flushed. "Sexually _what?"_

"You know what I mean," I hissed, rolling over.

"Ah, no, I don't!" he corrected, voice rising.

"Then how do mermaids have babies, Peeta!"

"Babies! _What? _But Katniss, your eggs are – I mean, you haven't – they're not -"

I sat up. "What are you _talking about?"_

He snapped up to, clenching his jaw. "You need to drop eggs before I can…" he gestured to his lap again.

I looked pointedly in the other direction. "Um, humans sort of do a birthing live young sort of thing," I mumbled.

"Oh," I heard him say. "That's weird."

"Sor-ry," I said sarcastically to the floor.

I heard him push himself on the bed, and was waiting for him to leave the room so I could pretend that never happened in peace. Instead I heard him say, "So, Katniss-" at a much closer proximity than I thought he was.

I leapt off the bed, ending up unbalancing and falling face-first towards the floor. "Oh, no!" I yelled. "We are _not-"_

Peeta's hand shot out and grabbed mine, pulling me closer and into a more-upright position than what I was. "Relax," he said, letting me slide my hand out of his. "I was just going to ask if you wanted breakfast. Look, it went away, see?"

I cautiously ventured a look south. He was right.

Peeta attempted a smile. "So, breakfast?"

"Um, I guess," I said, unable to think of a good reason to decline. "I was just brought meals yesterday."

"There's a cafeteria," he informed me. He paused for a second, and then ducked down under the bed, rummaging around. I bent down also, interested to find there were hidden compartments. "Here," he said, pulling out a pair of flippers to match his own. "This should help you swim faster."

"Okay," I agreed, rather cluelessly, watching as he snapped them on over my feet.

"Right," he said, taking particular care not to grab my hand again. "Let's go. This way."

Initially, I stayed a little behind him, but as we approached the destination, and the District became more crowded with merpeople, I found myself getting closer and closer to Peeta. They kept on staring at us, specifically me, with narrowed eyes. And their eyes, the most colorful I've ever seen, amber and green and blue, they were beautiful, like Peeta's eyes, so I was almost distracted from the fact they were glaring at me.

"Peeta," I asked softly, trying to keep shoulder-to-shoulder at this point, "Why do your people hide from humans?"

"The Capitol tells us you're all savages," Peeta answered matter-of-factly. He shrugged. "I don't think there was any real interest in disproving that until recently, either."

My mouth felt dry, which was ridiculous, because I was at the bottom of the ocean. "Right," I replied. "I figured."

Apart from the harsh looks, no one approached us as we entered the cafeteria (the largest hall I've seen so far) and got in line for food. Peeta had to do some explaining – something about schedules? – but eventually we got two adequate sized meals and sat down in an unoccupied corner.

Well, mostly unoccupied. We were jumped about halfway through the meal.

"So _you're _Katniss!"

I jumped maybe a foot in the air, not hearing anyone approach from behind me. As it turned out, there were three people. Er, merpeople. I looked over to Peeta, surprised again to find he was scowling slightly.

He glanced over at me too. "Katniss Everdeen," he said, looking a little resigned, "Meet Johanna Mason and FinnickandAnnie."

They were all extraordinarily beautiful. Johanna had short, dark brown hair, with a wiry build and a dark green tail. The boy, Finnick I suppose, I recognized from the time President Coin had taken Peeta away, but definitely seemed happier at the moment. The girl on his arm, Annie, had long, flowing hair, with a willowy build and a turquoise tail, and was absolutely not looking at me. Now that they'd stopped swimming, the fins of their tails started to wrap around each other.

"Oh, shut it," Finnick addressed Peeta, eyes twinkling when he turned to me. "I'm Finnick Odair, and this is my wife, Annie."

"But if you address them as one name it's really okay," Peeta said.

Annie avoided my gaze, allowing Finnick to guide them into seats on the other side of the table, Finnick playfully bumping Peeta with his shoulder as he sat down next to him. The mermaid equivalent of seats were these seaweed benches. When I looked up, I another layer of tables that extended down from the ceiling.

Johanna sat next to me. "68th" she called out.

"65th," Finnick added.

Annie said softly, "70th."

Peeta smiled tightly. "And you know me."

I wondered what they were talking about, but then I realized it was the year. The year of each of the Hunger Games they had won. I looked down and my food suddenly seemed a lot less appetizing. "You guys all know each other?" I asked.

Finnick shrugged, digging into his breakfast. "We stick together," he shrugged. "It's hard to find anyone else who understands."

"Amen," Johanna added. She'd finished about half her meal already. She swallowed the bite in her mouth and asked, "So, humans still don't run around with togas and sticks and kill strangers on sight?"

I glanced at Peeta, who was unhelpfully looking down at his food. "Not usually," I replied. "We've got actual clothes and spears now. Metal sticks."

"Not cannibals?"

"Only if we're desperate."

Her eyebrows rose. "And how often is that?"

I shrugged. "I dunno, three times a day. Whenever it starts to feel painful-"

"_Katniss!"_ Peeta interrupted, sounding appropriately scandalized. He turned to Johanna. "She's just kidding. They're just like us, really."

I felt three sets of eyes staring at me, despite what Peeta said. I scowled back at all of them. "I figured you guys would see what you expected," I told them. "Didn't see any use fighting it." I narrowed my eyes. "Also, I don't like you people very much, seeing as I'm basically being held captive."

Finnick and Annie were emotionless, but Johanna was right in my face, sizing me up. "So you're Katniss," she repeated. "Any other facts about you humans that you'd like to share?"

I glared back at her. "Sure," I said. "We do a lot of things I haven't seen you do here. We go outside often. You know, out of these little compounds? We also use these legs a lot, because we don't float around. We walk and climb and dance. Do you guys have dancing or music? We cook our food over fires. They're really hot. They burn. I don't know what you do here. And we're pretty protective of our families." I glanced at Peeta and his empty dishes. "You done?"

"You didn't finish your food," he pointed out.

"You can have it. I'm not hungry."

"Katniss," he said gently but kind of angry. I was already kicking off the bench.

Screw all of them.

* * *

I found my way back to my room and asked the doctor for a copy of Peeta's games. I watched on the "highlights" mode, so the whole thing only took about an hour. Long story short, he led an alliance of about seven unhealthy-looking kids against six strong-looking ones. Based on the commentary, the healthy districts always banded together, but Peeta was making history.

About ten minutes from the end, these giant sharks were introduced into the arena. In order to not get eaten alive, all the remaining tributes had to take refuge in this jellyfish field. Healthy Clove pushed this tiny little girl, Maizy, Peeta's district partner, straight into this twelve foot-long monster they called a jellyjacker, which was apparently extra poisonous and painful, and Peeta teamed up with this boy Thresh to take out the three remaining careers. They all went bat-shit insane, which the commentators guessed was a side effect of all the poison in the water. Peeta killed Clove, and Thresh killed Marvel but was decapitated by Cato, who Peeta forced out of the jellyfish field so got eaten. Then Peeta realized that the little girl, Maizy wasn't dead yet, so went back for her. Right there they jumped to the next seen, which was Peeta being teleported out of the arena with this huge welts all over his body and his head cracked open. I wondered what had happened that they'd cut out.

Then I watched Finnick's, Johanna's, and Annie's games all in a row. I didn't throw up until the end of Annie's games, where they almost completely drained the arena of water at the end and the last ten of them suffocated all at once. She survived by using blood to breathe. Now I know why she wouldn't look at me at breakfast.

I refused to grant the doctors anything after they cleaned up my vomit, just going straight back to bed.

Peeta visited me later that evening. I pretended I was asleep.

I had the worst nightmares of my life that night.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the delay. I hope this chapter makes up for it!


	10. Day 14

**Day 14**

I was informed, upon waking up, that I was getting a pass to go up to the surface, say goodbye to my family, and pack my things. I had to be back down by 1800 hours. If I hadn't signaled before then, that was when they were teleporting me back.

Joy.

I gave them I firm no when they asked if I wanted Peeta with me.

Haymitch, acting as my bodyguard for the day, escorted me to this laboratory-like room manned by this old guy called Beetee. The magic was really efficient. One minute I was standing there, and the next I was back on the beach in the Seam.

Haymitch and I stared at each other. He had legs again, and normal clothes, looking the exact same way he had the last 16 years I'd known him. He broke the silence first. "Well, have fun, sweetheart. See you in a few hours."

I tore my flippers off my feet (I was still wearing the wetsuit) and threw them at him. One hit his hand and the other rebounded off his house. Then I turned around and ran all the way home.

"Prim?" I shouted, running into the house. "Prim- Prim!"

She must have been right in the kitchen or something, because I'd only taken three steps into the house before she launched herself into my chest, clutching at me and sobbing uncontrollably. "Katniss!" she said.

"Prim," I repeated, grabbing her tighter, willing myself to be strong for her, not to cry. "Prim. I'm so sorry."

"Where have you been?" she demanded, looking up at me. "All we had was a little piece of paper that says 'she's safe' and you were gone!"

"I'm so sorry," I repeated.

She pulled away from me, frowning. She'd probably been crying for days, and she looked it, too. "Where's Peeta?" she asked. "Me and Mom went looking, but he and Haymitch weren't home either."

"He's…"

"Katniss!"

I was swept into my mother's arms. "Mom!" I exclaimed, "You're…home?"

She pulled away from me. Her frown and red eyes matched Prim's. "Where have you been?" she asked. "We've been worried sick."

I swallowed. "Mom," I admitted. "I don't know what to do. I need help."

* * *

Prim on her own might have believed me, but Mom was sure I was crazy. After I finished recounting my tale, she just looked at me and said, "Oh, honey. You should go lie down."

I frowned. "You don't believe me."

"I don't think you're lying," she replied.

"It was real," I snapped. "Peeta was real, ask Prim!"

"I'm sure it was," she said, leaning forward and running her hands over my hair. I'm sure it was a search for a concussion-causing bump hiding as a comforting gesture. "But sometimes things like this happen after stress, it's called a dissociative fugue, and-"

"What, I went crazy and made the whole thing up?"

Her hands still. "Katniss, listen to yourself. Mermen?"

"Peeta was real," I repeated, "Right, Prim?"

We both turned to her. She shrunk under our gazes. "Well, yes," she said, "But, Katniss, Gale's the one that found him. I think he would have noticed-"

"I said there was a spell!" I snapped.

"How about if Prim runs and gets Gale," my mother said soothingly, "While you go lie down?"

"I'm not sick," I growled.

"Please, Katniss?" she asked.

"Please?" Prim added.

I scowled at both of them. "Fine," I said. "As soon as Gale gets here. While you're at it, you might as well go looking for Haymitch. He'll verify my story. Look anywhere that serves liquor."

My mom and Prim exchanged a look, but I didn't argue. Like a good girl, I went upstairs to bed while Prim went to the Hawthornes'. I was glad to see Gale before I left, anyways.

I voiced the thought out loud to my mother when she came upstairs to bring me soup. "Leaving?" she blurted out, surprised.

I folded my arms over my chest. "Not by choice," I muttered.

"Katniss," she snapped. "Explain yourself."

I looked up at her. "I told you. They have spells. They're going to take me back a six tonight, whether I agree or not. They told me to say goodbye and pack my things."

Understandably, she looked concerned and upset, but surprisingly didn't demand more information. "Oh, Katniss," she sighed, and then pushed the bowl of soup and me. "Eat up."

I grabbed the bowl and took a sip. "Thanks, Mom, I – wow." I licked my lips. "This tastes different. What's in it?"

She shrugged. "Medicine."

"Medicine?" I questioned, sniffing it. Medicine was expensive, even for a doctor. "Mom, what-" My head started to go funny. "Mom, you didn't…is this _sleep syrup?"_

"Oh, Katniss," she repeated, soothing back my hair from my forehead.

I jerked away from her touch. "Mom, no. Tell me you didn't. Mom, I'm not making this up…"

She must have given me enough to last at least twelve hours.

* * *

A/N: Don't worry, the rest of the chapters won't be as short or fast-paced. I'll update soon. On another note, I want to thank every single one of you that takes the time to review this story. I take all of your feedback very seriously. Happy Valentine's Day!


	11. Day 15

**Day 15**

I must have been in a vertical position when I woke up, because the first thing I saw was my tail. It was a deep red.

"Great," I said aloud, swishing it idly. It was actually very pretty, and apparently very powerful if the amount I moved even from that small stroke was any indication.

"Katniss!" someone said, and I looked up. My eyes widened in surprise.

"_Gale?" _I gasped. His tail was also red, but brighter and veering towards the orange side, the intensity of the color almost hurting my eyes. "You…_merman," _I spluttered.

"You think?" he hissed back, sarcastic. I tore my eyes away from him (he was even shirtless and every thing. He would have fit right in, if not for the severe color) and surveyed the surroundings. We were in some sort of industrial area, surrounded by gray rock buildings that resembled factories. It was dark and the surrounding water felt heavy. Self consciously, I raised a hand to my neck and felt them. Gills.

"Gale," I said, keeping my voice low, "What happened? Where the _fuck _are we?"

"Hell if I know," he muttered, looking around. It was only then I noticed what he was clutching in his hands.

"Is that a _gun?"_ I squawked.

"Catnip, shush!" he ordered.

"Those have been illegal for a _century!"_

"You're going to get us _killed!" _he accused. This shut me up long enough for him to continue. "Your mom was really scared, right? And Prim, too. They said you were afraid of being kidnapped, and you know there are prostitution rings out there, Catnip, it wasn't that much of a long shot, so when I came to visit you I brought it with me. Your mom mentioned something about six o'clock, so when the time came I was feeling kind of jumpy so I was holding your hand, and then all of a sudden there was this bubble thing and we were in this _room _with these weird-ass scientists with weird faces, like, tattoos gone wild, and we're all freaking _mermen, _so I shot in their direction grabbed you and tried to go back through the bubble 'cause I don't know what I was thinking, like it would bring us back or something, and we ended up _here."_ He gave me a serious look, and I could tell that under his fairly shallow mask of annoyance he was freaking out. "What the _fuck _is going on, Katniss?"

"Um," I answered wittily, looking down both sides of the alleyway, and then down below, where there might be even more buildings, but the water got too dark too quickly to tell. "The ocean is filled with merpeople who are currently rebelling against their evil government?"

"_What?"_

"Do you know where we are?" I asked, picking a direction and swimming towards it. It took me a few strokes to get used to the tail and webbed hands. "I mean, what district?"

"I don't know what the fuck you're on," Gale hissed angrily.

I threw him a wicked look over my shoulder. "Trust me," I said. "They're not _all _evil." At least, I hope so. If this society had produced Peeta Mellark, it couldn't be. I stared straight ahead, looking for any signs of life. There wasn't any outside, but I could definitely see silhouettes inside the buildings and…hold on. "I see D13 guards," I whispered. "They all have gray tails."

"Am I allowed to ask what that is?" Gale snarked.

"District 13. They're in charge of the rebellion. That's where I stayed last time," I looked around for more people.

"Right," Gale said dubiously.

"They won't kill us on sight," I said. "We just have to cross the street and get to that building."

"Catnip, there are these white patrolmen circling the block," Gale informed me, "and I wouldn't be surprised if they have sentries on the roofs. If those are the ones that…will kill us on sight…Katniss, this is craz-"

"Just trust me, okay?" I repeated, staring at him.

He met my gaze for a long time before breaking eye contact and continuing, "If those are the bad guys, Katniss, we won't be able to make it without being spotted."

I reached out and grabbed his hand. "Thank you," I whispered. "Have you just been sitting here the whole time?"

"Well, Snow White, you were certainly taking advantage of your beauty rest," he responded sarcastically.

"They can't be paying that close attention," I argued. "If I can see the D13 people, so can they."

"Maybe it's a trap," he pointed out.

I crossed my arms over my chest. I noticed that while Gale had removed his own shirt, mine hadn't been touched. "Then what do you suggest?"

He sighed, closing his eyes momentarily. "I don't know. Katniss, we're fucking mermen. I don't even know if I'm awake."

"They say if you die in a dream, you wake up, right?" I reasoned.

"Katniss – Katniss, _no-"_

Before he could stop me, I darted out into the intersection. I heard Gale swearing, which I could only assume meant he was following me. Swimming was actually pretty instinctual, after the first couple of strokes. It couldn't have taken me more than five seconds to cross that path at top speed.

I barreled straight through one of the ventilation shafts and into the building. It took a few seconds for people to notice me. Looking around, it was clearly a hospital.

I felt Gale knock into me a few second later, still swearing under his breath, and we were approached a few seconds later by a D13 merman – I assumed he was a security guard. He glared down at us. "Who are you two?"

"Friends," I answered, before Gale could speak. "Look, I know you're probably really busy, but we need to contact District 13," I hesitated before adding, "Tell them it's Katniss Everdeen."

He narrowed his eyes, but glanced down at Gale and my tails. They were easily the most vibrant in the room. The most common color seemed to be a dull, navy blue. "Stay here," he ordered, signaling another guard from the perimeter of the building to come keep an eye on us.

I watched he swim away, into another room out-of-sight, and hoping desperately that I wasn't in way to deep over my head. "Sir," I addressed the guard, "If you don't mind, where are we?"

The guard glanced at us, surprised. He seemed to be looser than the last guy. "How do you not know?"

"Teleportation accident," I answered glumly, reaching behind me to squeeze Gale's arm with one hand. He was as tense as a found-up spring, and I was grateful that he was managing to hold his tongue.

"District 8," he said.

"8," I echoed, not really having a clue what that meant. Looking around, it meant a lot of injured people. "May I speak to them?"

"No," he answered shortly. Suddenly, there was a commotion on the other side of the room.

"I'm NOT doing this anymore!" someone shouted. It sounded like the middle of a royal temper tantrum. "I'm not going to let you put these people in MORE PAIN just so you can get a good shot!" My head perked up, eyes catching on a figure that tore into the room. I think Gale and the guard were the only ones in the room not to gasp.

_Peeta, _I thought.

"Is that a human?" I heard someone mutter.

The merpeople near Peeta were trying to usher him out of the room, but he was having none of it. "No! Let them know!" he shouted, turning around, raising his arms to the sky. "President Snow cursed me! _I have legs. _Now, can you stop _hurting _these patients just to get a shot of me from the waist up?"

The entire room of merpeople was stunned into silence. Making up my mind, I leaned forward and flicked my tail, flying past the guard. I think Gale called after me, but I wasn't paying attention.

"If you want a message for Snow, tell him this," Peeta continued. "You can destroy us, and our homes and our children, and our _tails_, but you cannot _defeat_ us. Just look at how well your attempts worked on me." He straightened up and glared menacingly at the camera. "Tell him Peeta the Protector is watching over Panem."

I was about three-quarters of the way down the room and was attracting notice myself when he finally turned around. He only had the bottom half of his wetsuit on today. We made eye contact, and I swear he stopped breathing.

I tilted my head. "That was really cheesy," I said, but he may have been too far away to hear.

Likewise, he might have said something back; now that he wasn't shouting I couldn't catch it, but I saw him smile. I kept gliding forward and we crashed into each other two second later.

His flipper scraped part of my tail, causing us both to flounder around not-so-gracefully. "You're here?!" he exclaimed. "I thought you were dead!"

"That was quite a speech," I commented.

He smiled crookedly. "I had extra motivation," he said, hands grabbing my waist, and pulled me in for a quick kiss.

I pulled back for a second, eyes wide in surprise, and he let go of me and backed up, righting himself as he went. "Sorry," he apologized, one hand rising to cover his mouth, but I don't think he meant it.

I liked my own lips. He tasted like…actually, he normally tasted like saltwater, but I didn't sense that anymore. Maybe my new mermaid taste buds cancelled it out. Now he tasted…human. Distinctly human. And maybe I was projecting here, but he tasted like bread.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and turning my head I saw Gale. Peeta and all the other D13 merpeople were looking at me questioningly, while the patients seemed all over the spectrum from pleased to shocked. "This is Gale Hawthorne," I said, mostly for the good of the group, trying to think of a reasonable explanation he would be with me. "He's my…cousin."

Gale shot me a look, but my attention was almost immediately reclaimed by Peeta. "This is Katniss Everdeen," Peeta introduced. He reached out for me, and I attempted to hold hands but couldn't because of my webbed fingers. He gave me an apologetic look and wrapped his hand around my wrist instead. "District 12," he continued.

I swallowed. Because humans were savages. Right. "Right," I agreed out loud, softly, and then cleared my throat to address the crowd. "We, um, ran away. Before 12 was destroyed. But now you found me."

"We found each other," he corrected. I heard some 'awwws' from around us, and realized it must be the patients. Peeta smirked a little, taking the opportunity to lean in for another kiss.

I didn't stop him.

"Katniss," Gale growled. I jerked away, reminding myself that this was the real world, no matter how much everyone else was dazzled by the famous Peeta Mellark effect.

"Um," I answered, "Peeta's a merman?"

Gale looked down dubiously at Peeta's legs.

We were interrupted by the first security guard, who looked slightly exasperated at the whole situation. "All of you," he announced, seemingly addressed Peeta, me, Gale, and all of the merpeople following Peeta around, "you have to evacuate. Immediately."

I was ready to question it, as usual, but Peeta's face just darkened, and he grabbed my wrist to pull me in the direction he had come from. I glanced over my shoulder at Gale, just to make sure he was following, and he was. A nervous tittering had broken out among the patients within earshot, but no one else seemed to be paying attention.

We were led into a small room, and then a smaller side room off of that, completely devoid of patients. Only then did Peeta open his mouth. "What's wrong, Boggs?"

"The Capitol tracked them," Boggs said, pointing to me and Gale. I stiffened and slid myself out of Peeta's grip, backing against Gale as though I could physically defend him. "They'll be here any minute."

I think my mouth dropped open. "_That's _where we were?"

"Sure glad I know what the fuck's going on," Gale mentioned casually.

"Just…" Boggs pointed to the corner of the room. Still slightly bewildered, I followed Peeta's lead, and Gale followed mine, and with about three gray-tailed merpeople holding obviously magical seashell-sand contraptions, we stood in a formation. Then the bubble thing happened, and then we were obviously back in District 13.

What is my life?

There were only a few people in the room we appeared in, one being Beetee and another Haymitch, who approached us. "Peeta. Sweetheart," he addressed, and then looked at Gale. "Who're you? The Dark Angel of Vengeance?"

In his defense, he had no idea it would stick.

Gale crossed his arms, the gun sticking menacingly in Haymitch's direction, which I'm sure wasn't an accident. "Gale Hawthorne," he said easily, jerking his head at Katniss. "I'm with her. And you look an awful lot like that harbor guy that took Peeta in."

Haymitch raised his eyebrows. "Hawthorne? What are you doing here?"

"Excellent question," he responded, turning to me.

I scowled at both of them. "It's going to be a long night."

* * *

Haymitch led us to some sort of conference room, where several very important people came to interrogate us, including President Coin herself.

"Did the…_bullet_ injure the Capitol guards or not?" some woman named Paylor was demanding. She had a navy blue tail, like the rest of the District 8 refugees.

"I told you, _I don't know," _Gale growled back. "I was panicked and I kind of figured to shoot first and ask questions later. It worked, didn't it?"

Paylor frowned. "Apparently so," she mused. "You must have injured the magician severely enough to influence the spell. It's probably the only thing that kept you alive. That in itself is a miracle."

"Take it," Coin ordered.

Gale recoiled, clutching the gun firmly. "What? No!"

"Give it to us," she commanded coldly, staring Gale straight in the eye, "Or we will take it from you."

Gale cocked the gun and pointed it at her. "Oh yeah?" he challenged.

I help my breath, and everyone in the room seemed to do the same. Coin and Gale had their own private stare-down, and I'm not sure who won, but Gale spoke first. "Look, I'm willing to help," he said, lowering the gun a few degrees, "But I want to be in charge. Replication, training, arming personnel. You're going to need me, anyway. You wouldn't have the first clue on how to use these things."

"It doesn't seem difficult," Boggs snapped.

Gale smirked, but underneath the facade, I could tell how tense he was. Under the table, I ran a fin along one side of Peeta's leg again, which he thankfully didn't seem to be able to sense through the heavy wetsuit. "It will when you run out of ammunition," Gale answered.

There was a brief silence, caused mostly by the fact that they probably didn't know what 'ammunition' meant. Finally, Coin asked, "How do we know we can trust you?"

Gale's face darkened. "Snow kidnapped me and my…cousin," he answered finally. "And I know what living in an unfair system is like."

"You haven't had to send your children to die," Coin remarked.

His brow furrowed. "Excuse me?"

I realized quickly that he hadn't quite made it to the Hunger Games yet. "He said he knows," I interrupted, trying to make my voice as harsh as possible. I glared briefly at Coin, and shot Gale an explain-to-you-later look. He shrugged in response.

Coin looked from me to Gale. "Fine," she said, rising from the rock table and stools. "Report to Beetee's lab in the morning, 0700 hours."

We all watched as she exited the room quickly. "I don't like her," Gale said immediately after she was out of eyesight.

"She's all we've got, kid," Haymitch said, also rising, stretching his arms. "Oh, I need a drink. Guns. The ocean's going to run red."

"It's not his fault," I defended.

"It's late," Peeta interjected, kicking off his rock stool into the water. "We should get some sleep." He looked from me to Gale, and I got the sense that he was deliberately holding himself back from touching me. "I can show you to your rooms, if you like," he offered. "I recognize the locations the officers said in the meetings."

"Sure," I said immediately, also rising. Gale shot Peeta a nasty look and placed himself in between us.

The journey back was slow, hindered by Peeta's lack of fins and Gale's lack of prior experience swimming before. Peeta kept on trying to give us advice, but after a little while he just gave up, which unfortunately gave Gale the conversational opening he was looking for.

"So," Gale began, "President Snow gave you legs."

"It's irreversible," Peeta answered simply, which gave me a bit of a pang in my stomach.

"A true love's kiss from Katniss gave you your voice back," Gale answered.

Peeta started to glare back. It wasn't a good look from him. "Maybe there's another solution we're missing,"

"Maybe," Gale answered, "Either way, I couldn't help noticing that you and Katniss have tried several more times, and it's still not working?"

"You have a point?" Peeta asked.

"Yeah." Gale jerked his thumb at me. "Let her go."

"Gale!" I objected sharply.

He threw me a look. "What? You didn't even want to come back here in the first place, did you?"

"I…I didn't think about it," I answered. "It wasn't exactly an option."

Gale snorted. "It should be."

"We're here," Peeta told us stonily, stopping at a door-sized opened covered merely by a curtain – I supposed for water flow. "These are assigned to you, Hawthorne."

Gale nodded stoically, swimming forward to enter the room. He stopped at the last second, turning in the doorway. "I don't know why, but you're some sort of figurehead, Mellark," Gale said. "If you have any sort of power and a conscience, protect her."

"I can handle myself," I announced loudly.

Peeta just nodded. "I will."

Gale nodded back, and disappeared behind the curtaining. I rounded on Peeta. "I don't need protection."

Peeta sighed. "Of course not," he muttered. "It's not like I'm any good at it, anyway."

We swam in silence all the way back to my room, a different one now that I was no longer under hospitalized care. Peeta nodded at the doorway, calling after me when I was almost through it. "Goodnight, Katniss," he said. "I…really like your tail."

I stopped dead, turning around almost as an afterthought. "It's a bit gaudy," I said, wiggling it experimentally. "I mean, magenta?"

Peeta shrugged. "I think it suits you. It makes you look…like you're on fire."

I looked up at him. "Peeta," I asked, "What color was your tail?"

"Blue," he answered.

I closed my eyes to envision a blue-eyed, blue-tailed Peeta. "Where all tails in District 12 blue?"

"No," he told me. "Most were black. Merchant tails were bluer, but my family was really the only ones…and mine was always the brightest, so…" he sighed. "I should have known I was going to die."

I looked up at him sharply. "What do you mean?"

He smiled sadly. "Those with bright tails always ended up picked, one year or another. Makes the Games prettier." He scratched his head with one hand.

"You didn't die," I offered.

He didn't respond, but he didn't swim away, either.

"I'm glad you didn't," I offered suddenly.

He regarded me softly. "Goodnight, Katniss."

"Goodnight," I whispered back.

* * *

A/N: Hope you enjoy! Please review.


	12. Day 16

**Day 16**

I woke up later than usual the next morning. Gale was already gone, at his gun thing. I asked around, and apparently Peeta was there too. Everybody except for me seemed to have this tattoo-schedule on their arm, telling them what to do and where to go, which sounds disgustingly I just sort of wandered around, eating breakfast, and trying to learn my way around the complex, even though I really only knew the hospital section.

I also tried to learn how to swim better – I'd changed into the mermaid chest-wrappings, which revealed I had little fins sticking out of my shoulder blades, interestingly enough – when I crashed into Annie, one of Peeta's friends that I'd been incredibly rude to that one day at breakfast.

"Sorry," I immediately apologized, trying to hold out an arm to steady her, but balance underwater wasn't quite the same as it was on land and I think we both just ended up tipping over.

It took me a second to recognize a new sound and reorient myself, but I soon realized she was laughing. I shot her a reproachful look. "Sor_ry,_" I repeated.

"It's all right," she managed, her voice high and tittering on her giggles. "I just haven't fallen over quite that badly in years. You're Peeta's friend, right?"

"Yeah," I answered cautiously. "Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot – er, tail – My name is Katniss and I'm usual not a jerk to unsuspecting people like you."

She smiled. I was struck by the thought that Annie was beautiful; then I remembered watching her games, using blood to survive, and tried not to let it show on my face. "I'm Annie Odair," she said. "Are you lost?"

"It doesn't really matter," I answered. "I don't have anywhere to be."

"We're near the hospital section," she told me anyways.

"Oh. That's where I stayed, last time. Thought it looked familiar."

"Do you want to come with me?" she offered suddenly.

I blinked in surprise. "Ah…"

"It's just, I really don't want to be alone," she started rambling, "and I know we just met, except for that one time, but you were just being defensive. Peeta's like that too, sometimes…pretty often, actually…" She faded away, then took a breath, as if steeling herself for something. "I'm going to see my child for the first time."

I raised my eyebrows. "Um…wow." I glanced down at her stomach automatically, but then I remembered that awkward conversation with Peeta the other morning. "You guys do a…egg thing, right? With your kids?" I didn't really want to think about it too much.

She nodded. "My child is in a nursery right now. I wanted to postpone the appointment until Finnick gets back from duty, but he really wished for me to go, and write him about the gender, and I…"

Annie trailed off again. I didn't push her. "Okay," I said softly. "I'll go with you."

She smiled widely. I realized, slightly belatedly, that her eyes were also blue, like Peeta's. "Thank you," she offered.

The nursery in a mermish hospital, unlike normal spaces, was sealed off almost completely. Special regulators monitored the water flow; a specially trained doctor was the only one to enter, once per day. We only stood outside, watching through the window in an adjacent standing room. The doctor didn't question my presence.

It was a boy.

"A boy!" Annie was still crooning on our way to lunch. "In four months, a precious little boy! I hope he'll look just like Finnick. What to name him? I'd like to name him after Finnick's father, but Finnick will probably want to name him after mine…Katniss, can you imagine?"

"No," I answered truthfully. "I have my hands full looking after my little sister back home, and she's thirteen. It's a good thing she's smarter than I am."

Annie flashed a smile at me. "I'm glad you're here, Katniss."

"I'm glad I could help," I replied. Against my better judgment, because I knew better than to get close to people, I really did… "If you ever need company again, I'm here." I showed her my bare arm for confirmation. "Schedule's clear and everything."

"That means a lot, Katniss," Annie answered, voice warm.

"Anything you need," I reiterated.

* * *

A/N: Sorry about the delay, guys. This isn't my favorite chapter, so I guess I procrastinated putting it up. I couldn't think of a way to fix it, so...here it is. Necessary for the plot, I assure you. If you have any suggestions, please review!


	13. Day 17

**Day 17**

I bet this is what being bailed out from jail is like.

"Come on, _sweetheart," _Haymitch ordered, rather menacingly. "We can swim and speak at the same time, you know."

I snorted to myself (their version of walk and talk?) but flitted around the guard's reach until Haymitch was a firm border between us. Haymitch muttered something else to the guard that I didn't catch, and then started leading me back down passageways. "So," he began, "You tried to force yourself into soldier training." It was definitely a statement, not a question.

I scowled, resisting the urge to cross my arms because that's a very human thing to do – crossed arms don't do swimmers any favors. "I'm apparently not allowed," I growled.

"What tipped you off?" Haymitch asked sarcastically. "The refusal to let you do anything, or the fact that you're the only hope these people have of getting Peeta's mermish behind back?"

"If they want me to fall in love with him, which I'm not saying is a possibility, than they have the worst methods I've ever seen," I huffed. "I haven't seen a hair of him in the last two days. He's been stuck in that gun thing with the rest of 13 and my best-" I caught myself just in time "-cousin."

Haymitch shot me a dark look. "This is war, sweetheart."

"What tipped you off?" I quipped. "And while we're on it, why aren't you at the gun thing?"

"I don't need your backsass," he admonished, "and of course I know how to use a gun. Don't look so surprised," he said, addressing my startled expression. "I know they're supposedly illegal up sandside, but don't tell me everyone uses them anyway."

I frowned. "Do you think this will help your people, at least? End the war?"

Haymitch let out a booming sigh and rubbing a forehead with one hand. "It's an advantage for us," he admitted, "But we really only have one-shot, one mission with them before the Capitol finds out and starts replicating their own."

"You'll just have to make sure it's a good one, then."

Haymitch snorted. "Take out the whole Capitol in one mission. Got it."

"I bet Peeta could talk them into it," I muttered. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. "He's a war hero for a battle he didn't want to enter."

"He's a symbol," Haymitch corrected, "For the powers to exploit as they please. He's at their mercy, and don't you forget it. You are too."

"Whatever he is," I cut in bitterly, "I don't know how to deal with it."

Haymitch sighed again, staring at me for a long time. "You know," he said quietly, "You must be the only girl in the whole universe not capable of falling in love at his feet. I'd accuse you of lying, but I don't think you are. You can't love him."

I didn't respond.

"Boy never did know when to quit," Haymitch muttered. "Alright. I'll help you."

"Hm?" I frowned.

Haymitch shrugged. "There's nothing for you down here. Might as well send you home."

"What? Two days ago you were telling me to pack my things and prepare for a very long vacation with you!"

"You can't love him," Haymitch said slowly, as if explaining something very patiently to a small child. "We were going to keep you here until you did, but seeing as you can't, we'll let you on your way."

"I think that's the most degrading thing anyone's ever said to me," I commented. "The only thing I'm good for is loving a boy? Gale's out there teaching your army how to fight!"

Haymitched regarded me. "Don't you want to go home, sweetheart?"

I faltered. "I, um…" I stammered. "I…I want to help."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah," I answered, more confidently. "You guys are fighting for a better way of life. There's nothing I respect more."

He kept staring at me. "Respect. Sure."

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing," he dismissed lazily. "If it were up to me, I'd put you right up there on the front lines, but unfortunately, you're cleared to do much else besides sitting around."

"Why not?" I demanded. "Is it because of the human thing? Because as far as I can tell, my species is a lot more civilized than-"

"Quit yapping," he ordered, having an hand in front my his face like he could physically wave away my words. "No, it's not that. It was actually letter A of Peeta's conditions."

"Peeta's what?" I questioned.

"We needed him to be the Mockingjay – you saw, Protector Peeta. The rebellion needed a rallying point, and he's it. Who better to fight in the name of than the guy who almost killed himself 23 times to save all the other kids? He didn't even want to win, Kat-" Haymitch cut himself off. "Sorry," he apologized gruffly. "Got carried away."

"You were there?"

"I was his mentor," he stated flatly. My eyes widened. They'd mentioned mentors briefly in the videos I'd watched, but I hadn't really been paying attention in light of everything else. "Anyway. Peeta had a list of conditions that he made Coin accept before he accepted the position. First one was that you were not to participate in any sort of war effort whatsoever. The rest of them were more about saving people and granting amnesty and other bighearted stuff, but you're the one he cares about most. He's got the generals so scared they wouldn't let you pick up a bandage, and as good a shot as you might be, Peeta's worth a thousand."

I swallowed hard. "So there's literally nothing for me here? This place is a war camp. What else can I do?"

"Go home where it's safe," Haymitch said seriously.

"What about Gale?" I objected.

"I'll talk to him," Haymitch promised, looking at a clock on the wall. "…Now, actually. You go on back to your rooms."

He shoved me in one direction, and then turned around and started swimming the other direction.

I wanted to shout after him, but I didn't know what do say, besides calling him an asshole, and I'm not sure merpeople even know what that means. So I just stuck out my tongue.

Rebelliously, I didn't go to my room. I visited Annie for the rest of the afternoon.

* * *

I got back much later than normal. He was waiting when I arrived.

"Gale?" I questioned.

He turned around and exclaimed, "Catnip! It's about time you got back!"

"Sorry," I apologized, "I went exploring." I narrowed my eyes at his appearance. His tail was still bright red, but had patterns of darker stripes running down the length. Weirdest, though, where the fins on his back, which had grown tendrils out the back. "Gale…your fins."

He narrowed his eyes. "Tell me about it. They just started growing. Nothing I can do."

I started laughing. "You're a freshwater angelfish!"

"Shut up," he complained. "Sorry we're all not as _normal _as you are."

"Oh, I think it's great," I told him. "You're apparently a brutal teacher, too. Everyone I ask calls you the dark angel, and now I know why-"

"Because they're all twelve, that's why. Shut up, Catnip, I'm here to be serious."

I let the laughter die on my lips. "Alright. I'm listening."

"Haymitch came to talk to me," Gale informed. "He said they want to send you home."

"Yeah, can you believe it? A bunch of self-righteous sexist-"

He cut me off. "I agree with him."

I deflated a bit. "Oh," I spouted lamely. "You…do?" Gale would have been the last person I thought would try to keep me out of a war. He's normally so full of fire.

"Some needs to look after Prim and Rory and Vick and Posy," he breathed. "And frankly, I'm a little worried about the apparent amount of control Peeta has over you."

I frowned at him. "Peeta would never do anything to hurt me."

He sighed. "Maybe not intentionally, Katniss, but you have to admit, he's kinda…" Gale twirled his finger sideways next to his ear.

"He's not crazy," I defended. "He's just been through a lot."

"And that's why I want to help," he told me. "Look, Catnip. I know you're not one to back away from a fight. But I think that there's a better place for you here than offering moral support."

I turned away, wanting to argue but not possessing the words. There really weren't any good reasons for me to stay here. "How long do you plan on staying?" I asked.

"Not long," Gale reassured me. "Just enough to get them started, you know? Besides, if they have guns and the other side doesn't, I think this war'll be over pretty quickly."

"I hope so," I agreed, turning back to him. "Gale…"

"I'll be fine too," he promised, reaching out, trying to grab my hand. Because of the webbing, he couldn't exactly, so I just help up my hand and pressed our palms together. His fingers dwarfed mine. "Really, Catnip," he insisted, tone turning to tease. "I'll be home in time for supper."

"Jerk," I said, "You better."

"I promise," he answered, and then hesitated, adding, "Not that I don't love you and all, but I'm not your cousin."

My head jerked upwards in surprise. I searched his face, trying to figure if he meant what I thought he'd meant. Gale's dark expression scared me, and I quickly retracted my hand. "Goodnight, Gale."

He gave me a hard look, but in the end agreed, "Goodnight, Katniss," and left my room.

I glided towards the bed, feeling a scream building up in my throat. All I wanted was to help, not star in life's biggest soap opera.

I considered visiting Peeta, because he usually made me feel comfortable and safe, but decided against it. I don't think he could guide me through this issue the same way he guided me around District 13. So instead, I just flopped down and pretended I was sleeping.

* * *

A/N: Fun fact: this is actually about the 5th version of this story I've written. One was basically this from Peeta's point of view, one was resolved much eariler, and in one Peeta actually was a magician who could transform himself at will. I was just reading another fic, which explained how their story was written, so I figured I could let you guys in too. You know, in case any of you care, or think it's interesting (like me).

Anyways. I do not own _The Hunger Games. _Please review!


	14. Day 18

**Day 18**

I didn't have to pack; it wasn't like I had ever carried anything with me.

"This is a one-way trip this time, you understand," Beetee informed me. He was originally from District Three, I was informed, and that's why his tail was a pale yellow. "After what happened last time, we can't risk teleporting you back."

I swallowed. As if I had much of a choice. Once Haymitch had convinced the right people I was useless, I'd become nothing more than a volatile waste of resources. If mermish government was always like this, no wonder they-

I didn't finish the thought. It was a time of war. They couldn't afford to be humanitarians right now. I knew that. It didn't mean that I wasn't pissed off.

"Of course," I answered Beetee.

He studied me carefully through his glasses. (He was the only merman I knew of that had glasses.) "As long as you're sure-"

"Wait!" Someone called from the door. We all looked around. My heart was pounding.

Peeta. I almost started smiling against my will. I thought he wasn't going to show up.

I seemed to be the only person pleased to see him, though. Gale was busy teaching his gun-class, so I'd only seen him briefly this morning, but Haymitch was scowling and Beetee suddenly looked nervous. "Boy," Haymitch barked out, "Don't you have somewhere else to be right now?"

Peeta ignored Haymitch, his eyes settling on me. "No one told me you were leaving," he breathed. "I overheard something just now."

I swallowed. "We just decided yesterday."

"You just got here," he said.

"You admitted it yourself, Peeta, she can't help you," Haymitch snapped. I swear Peeta almost flinched. "And if she can't do that and you wouldn't let her fight, than she's going home."

Peeta looked conflicted for a moment or two, like he was actually considering revising his conditions, but seemed to think better of it, disappointingly. "That doesn't mean I didn't want to say goodbye," he objected.

Haymitch nodded in my direction. "Fine then. Say it."

Peeta narrowed his eyes. "May I at least request some privacy?"

The old mentor opened his mouth wide, probably to call Peeta on it, but then shut it abruptly. "Fine," he agreed irritably, "Two minutes. Only for you, boy. Come on," he ordered Beetee, who confusedly followed Haymitch out of the room.

Peeta turned to me immediately. "You're leaving," he accused, not hiding the note of betrayal that wavered in his voice.

I bit my lip. "I'm sorry," I offered softly. "I can't stay."

"You can," he argued, "You can stay with me, forever. Just-" he raised a hand to around the height of my face, to allow me to lean into it if I wanted to.

I was petrified.

Peeta turned away from me, looking down, slowly dropping his hand. "I am sorry," he stated, voice flat. "I must have been projecting my own feelings. That was unfair of me."

"No, Peeta, wait," I called desperately. He turned, carefully monitoring his facial expressions. My eyes flickered down to his lips. They were so close…it would be so easy to touch them. Not three days ago, we were kissing for an audience.

No. I'm Katniss, not Peeta's girlfriend, and definitely not his true love. It's like Haymitch said. Impossible.

"What?" Peeta prompted.

I threw my arms around his shoulders and buried my face into his all-too-human neck. He stiffened, before vaguely raising his arms to return the hug. I suddenly had the instinct to wrap my tail around his legs, but that was something I'd seen Finnick and Annie doing and probably wasn't the best idea. My tail was so much longer than his legs, anyways, and thicker too. For the first time, I tried to look at Peeta the same way the mermen saw him: small and lost.

No.

Small and fighting to shine. Like the sun.

"Take care of yourself," I mumbled into his shoulder.

"Ahem," someone coughed very conspicuously.

Peeta's grip tightened before he let go suddenly. "We're done," he said, his voice still flat, pushing himself away from me.

I swallowed. I wasn't sure I agreed.

"Alright," Beetee nodded. "If that's everything, goodbye, Miss Everdeen."

I didn't reply, suddenly feeling very sick to my stomach.

"Bye, sweetheart," Haymitch said, almost mockingly.

I was losing him. I was loosing Peeta forever. I opened my mouth to shout, to stop them, tell them it was possible, I _could _love him, he was enough, more than enough, he was everything I possibly could have ever wanted, to apologize, to kiss him back-

There was the sensation of bubbles, and then I was back on the beach of the Seam.

_Too late, _I thought dully. I didn't know what I had until it was too late.

Peeta had given me the chance. _You can stay with me, Katniss, just-_

_ Just-_

I sat down in the sand roughly and tried not to cry. I didn't want to be that person anymore, the one with a heart so barbed she wouldn't even considering kissing the love of her -

_Dammit. _

* * *

_I stared at the place Katniss had been occupying only moments before. _

_"Finally," Haymitch said roughly behind me. He clapped me on the shoulder. "That girl was nothing but a goddamn tease."_

_ "Shut up, Haymitch," I mumbled, not having the willpower to dislodge his hand from my shoulder. I felt human tears prick at my eyes and wondered if anyone would even notice here. Mermen don't cry. They don't even have tear ducts. _

_ "Peeta," Haymitch said, a little bit more slowly than usual, which was his version of comforting. "I know you liked her because she nursed you back to health and all that, but consider this. Is it really her you're missing, or your tail?"_

_ I tried to jerk away, but couldn't, finding that his grip was stronger than any push my two legs could produce. Katniss was my true love, so it should feel like missing a limb, right? It's not I could separate my feelings for the two of them._

_ Haymitch stared at me a little bit longer, and then clapped me on the shoulder. "Take the rest of the morning off," he suggested. "Then get back to duty. Kissing that girl might have given you the tail back, but having Snow reverse the spell definitely will."_

_ "Piss off," I snapped, pushing away from him. Mermen don't cry. _

_ Katniss is gone. I don't need her, just a tail, right?_

_ I pushed the thought out of my mind. _

_ Mermen don't cry. _

_ I never loved her. _

* * *

_Annie asked about Katniss at dinner tonight. I, of course, responded logically, answering that Katniss had left forever. Annie was upset. She said she was considering the two of us as godparents. I gaped at her with my mouth hanging open for a solid ten seconds, and then _stupidly _looked around for Katniss to see if she knew, and- _

_ And I realized that I'd never get to look at Katniss's face again. _

_ I was entertaining the thought of just giving up on the tail and going to live on the surface when it hit me. _

_ Who am I kidding?_

* * *

A/n: I do not own _The Hunger Games. _Please review!


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